


It Started When I Turned Into a Cat

by Iwritestories



Category: Fairy Tail, 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia
Genre: Aizawa Shouta | Eraserhead is Bad at Feelings, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Attempt at Humor, Author Is Sleep Deprived, BAMF Lucy Heartfilia, Before Aizawa Becomes a Teacher, Consensual Somnophilia, During Fairy Tail Disbandment, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Master/Pet, Natsu realizes he has a fetish, Non-Consensual Voyeurism, Not Beta Read, Oral Sex, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Secret Relationship, Smut, Strange and maybe unhealthy relationship, Unhealthy Coping Mechanisms
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-14
Updated: 2020-09-07
Packaged: 2021-03-02 00:21:00
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 16
Words: 84,668
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23646070
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Iwritestories/pseuds/Iwritestories
Summary: After Fairy Tail's disbanded Lucy has a hard time dealing with being alone for the first time in a long time. Deciding to go on a mission to take her mind off of it, she finds herself getting turned into a cat! Fortunately for her she get's picked up by underground hero Eraserhead, he takes her in not knowing that she's actually a human. But what's going to happen when the quirk wears off?
Relationships: Aizawa Shouta | Eraserhead/Lucy Heartfilia
Comments: 35
Kudos: 111





	1. Missions and Resolves

**Author's Note:**

> I decided to write for this couple since literally no one else has. Had this idea floating around in my head and hopefully it works out. It'll also be my first story so don't be surprised if it's not the best.

Quiet. 

It was quiet in her apartment, something that Lucy still wasn’t used to even after a month already had passed. If it had been a year before, the quiet would have been welcome by Lucy as it was so rare to come by during those times, but now it only seemed to serve as a constant reminder of what she’d lost. Her friends, her family. They’d all gone their separate ways after the guild disbanded without so much as a letter telling her where they’d gone. Like the beginnings of a rain storm they'd slowly trickled out of her life at first before eventually flooding out in waves until all that was left was the barren wasteland of her lonely apartment. The only thing that gave her some comfort in these times were the newspaper clippings giving possible leads as to where they may be. But even those were starting to become harder to come by each day that passed. She'd be lucky to even find someone with the same first name on the worst of days. That’s not to say that all she’d done in the past month was lie around her apartment moping and reading newspapers trying to find any evidence of her guildmates’ whereabouts. No, instead Lucy found herself doing the occasional odd job here and there to keep herself afloat especially after she’d moved from her apartment in Magnolia Town to her new apartment in Crocus. It wasn't easy. Mentally or financially. She could still remember how she'd fought with herself day and night about whether moving was even a good idea or not. The guild, her memories, they were all still there in that small apartment on Strawberry Street. What if Natsu and Happy decided to finally return only to find her and the guild gone? Just because they'd left so suddenly didn't mean that she had to do the same. 

_'It wouldn't be right'_ , she kept telling herself. It wasn't until Jason had offered her a job as a model for Sorcerer Weekly that she'd finally slapped herself back to reality realizing that moving was probably what was best for her right now. Something new, something fresh that wasn't just her staying in her stuffy room all day gathering dust along with the rest of her furniture. Seeing the broken and ruined remains of the guild, feeling the sad stares and the whispers of civilians each time she passed by; it was all too much for her at the time. So with what little money she still had, she packed up her things and made her way into her new living arrangement to start a new life for herself. Or at least, that's what she'd hoped for after she had stepped foot into what was now her current apartment. It had taken her weeks to even finish unpacking the first few boxes, the rest she had mindlessly shoved into a closet, finding that any time she even glanced in their direction she couldn't help the tears from falling for what reason she could not quite pinpoint. But she'd at least gotten her essentials out, without as much crying, to at least make things slightly more comfortable for herself. Jason had been more than sympathetic to her though, trying to keep her mind busy by booking her with as many modeling jobs as he could to try and keep her mind off of things. She was grateful for what he was trying to do, but really she found that it didn't help much, there was only so much a person could think about when they were trying their best to pose and look nice for the camera.  


Sighing Lucy looked over at the clock on her nightstand, 12:30 pm. Turning to lay on her stomach, she pressed her face into the pillow.  


She was sure that even an owl would have a better sleeping schedule than she did right now. Her dark circles prominent against her pale complexion and the makeup artists from her last job had chastised her for not taking better care of herself before applying a thick layer of concealer in a vain attempt to hide the truth; that there was no such thing as too much or too little sleep in her world right now. At least she didn’t have to work today, really she could spend the whole day in bed if she wanted to but her full bladder and growling stomach said otherwise.  


Slightly stumbling as she made her way to the bathroom, she wondered if she really should just stay home today and maybe get some work done on her novel that she had been trying to write since she had first joined Fairy Tail. It's slightly crumpled pages sitting in her writing desk drawer, untouched and unlooked at. Inked sentences begging to be touched and rewritten or continued until every last word was said. At least now she wouldn’t have to worry about her teammates reading it without her permission anymore. No longer having to snatch it away from them in a huff of embarrassment, worrying about their impressions of the clumsily written words, the attempts at suspense and realistic conversation. Occasionally resulting in minor tears and smudging of the ink that she found unforgivable, swearing to find a better hiding place for it somewhere even they wouldn't think to look. It took a moment to realize that the hot water running down her face wasn't just from the shower, its heavy stream having turned cold who knows how long ago before even she couldn't hold back the sob that clawed its way out of her throat. Maybe this was it, maybe she’d never see her teammates ever again, never again would she have to come home to find them rummaging through her things, never again would they go on more adventures, never again would she feel the familial warmth that they gave her. A sneeze interrupted her daily breakdown, reminding her that that months water bill wasn't going to be any cheaper if she kept this up.  


No, she needed to get out of the house, out of this funk she was in and maybe get some training done in the process. Public mission boards had become more popular over the past few weeks. They were boards that had missions sent out by people not looking for any specific guild or even a mage in some cases to work for them. They were noticeably easier than any of the jobs that she’d seen at the guild, but that also meant that the pay wasn’t always the best either. They were mainly popular with the younger crowd who were just looking to make some easy money without having to do too much or join a guild despite not having any magic. Yeah, sure why not? Simple mission, easy money that probably wasn’t going to take long anyway. Nodding in approval, she quickly fixed her hair and threw on some casual clothes before grabbing an apple and heading out the door. Maybe she could use the money to get groceries or at least a bite to eat when she got back.

* * *

The public mission board was surrounded by teens with their friends or parents and some young adults as they talked about what missions they thought were easy or were worth it for the money. Approaching one end of the board with the least people she looked over what missions sounded fairly easy that could be done in a day. 

Find a missing dog? No.  
  


Escort someone’s daughter to school for a week? No.  
  


Stop some delinquents from trespassing on someone’s property? Mulling it over Lucy decided that it sounded simple enough. It was just easy enough to not sound tiring and she could probably get some practice in with summoning more of her spirits. That way they could cover more ground and scare off any trespassers. Grabbing the mission, she brought it over to the missions office and got the stamp of approval, albeit with the strange look from the front desk worker. Looking over the mission again she looked at where she had to go and her felt her face paled when she read the location. Musutafu. Oh Mavis. What had she gotten herself into? It was fairly well known that there was more than a bit of a feud between quirk users and magic users. From what she could tell everyone either had the biggest inferiority or the biggest superiority complex she'd ever seen. It was all either one was better for being born with their powers or one was better for being able to pick and choose which powers they wanted. As petty as it may have sounded the rivalry between the two had carried on for years and the tension had only continued to build as the years passed with more than a few whispers of war circulating around.  


Shuttering Lucy just hoped that whoever sent out the request was decent enough not to shame her for being a mage, after all, they were asking for help from a place where wizards and mages were all over the place. Lucy also realized that this meant that it probably wasn’t going to take a day like she hoped it would either as Musutafu was located south from Fiore just across the sea on a small island. Several years before it had been decided that a barrier would be erected to keep the two places separated, the barrier would help to keep any unwanted visitors from passing or keep anyone from leaving, should that be decided. Personally, she saw it as nothing more than a curtain of shame keeping people from talking things out like adults, but really she had no real say in the matter at the end of the day. Simply sighing in acceptance and continuing on with her day like it didn't exists.  


Heading back to her apartment she called Jason and told him to cancel any jobs she had that week. Jason sounded disappointed and a bit frustrated at the sudden cancellation but ultimately agreed upon the condition that Lucy does some extra photo shoots the next week for a lingerie brand that she had been reluctant to do the last time he asked her about it. Agreeing, Lucy got her duffel bag and backpack and began to gather any essentials she thought she might need.  


She had no idea how long the mission was going to take as it would take a while just to get to the dock where the ship would take her to the island, that would take half a day to a full day at most and once she finally got to Musutafu it would probably take another day or less to finish the job. Groaning in frustration she wished she had read the fine print before agreeing to take the mission. Why was this kind of mission on a public board anyway? Putting off the thought she got back to packing before storing it away with her magic. In the past few months, Lucy took it upon herself to learn a bit of Requip magic for small things like this as well as whenever she needed a change of clothes. The amount that she could store wasn’t anywhere near as big as Erza’s but enough to hold a few outfits in case she lost or ruined her clothes on missions which, unfortunately, seemed to happen a lot. It also helped to store her keys, making them less likely to be stolen by anyone she might be fighting.  


As Lucy made her way out of her apartment, she thought back to the time during the Grand Magic Games when Minerva took her keys and when she had lost them after Juvia abducted her. Just thinking about it made her body feel sore remembering the punishments Minerva and Aquarius inflicted upon her all because she let herself lose her keys. As she made her way to the train station Lucy swore to herself that she would never let herself fall victim to that again, she was going to become strong, strong enough to fight alongside her team on equal ground and not have to be the one getting saved all the time. She smiled to herself as she sat in an empty booth and looked out the window as the train departed. She was going to meet her friends again. Natsu, Erza, Gray, Wendy, Happy, Carla, and everyone else in the guild. She was going to see them all again and when she did she wasn’t going to be the weak girl she used be, instead she was going to be a strong woman worthy of calling herself a Fairy Tail mage and for once she was going to be the one to save her friends no matter what it took.  



	2. Cat Troubles

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Lucy get's turned into a cat and a cat lover happens to be walking by.

It was early morning by the time Lucy got to Musutafu and she wanted nothing more than to sit down and eat something. Throughout the journey she didn’t eat much other than a few small things here and there since she was low on money and wasn’t looking to waste anymore if she didn't think it was necessary. Although, she wished that she had now, as her stomach growled and she was sure that the people here probably weren’t going to accept her currency. She didn’t want to find out if they would or not since as far as she was concerned she was going to try to keep a low profile on her mage status. Which is why, despite the hot weather, she wore a glove to hide her guild mark. The last thing she needed was to be starving and heckled about her status.

Looking around Lucy took a moment to admire her surroundings. Despite their rivalry no one could deny just how far their society had come in terms of technology. Large buildings surrounded her, each advertising some kind of product or promoting what they called “heroes”. She stared a one of the buildings for a moment, across the screen a man was plastered looking triumphant as a text box above him had the words “I Am Here” written inside it.

“Heroes huh?”

Lucy didn’t have much time to think about it as someone bumped into her and she realized that she still had a mission to do. Pulling out the request again she looked at the address that was written on it as she tried her best to figure out how roads and subway systems worked around here.

* * *

It took 2 hours, but Lucy was finally able to find where the requester asked to meet. It was smaller than what Lucy was expecting; it was a small brick building that was the last in a lineup of other equally as small shops and eateries. The place looked rundown as trash littered the streets, paint was peeling from its walls and graffiti marked just about every flat surface that there was. At least now it made sense as to why the requester had called in for her to take care of “delinquents”. But still she wondered why they didn’t just ask one of the “heroes” that this society seemed to look up to so much to help deal with the problem.  


Stepping into the building a bell faintly chimed as she opened the door. The inside of the building wasn't much better. The lights flickered and an old fan wobbled as the blades spun on the ceiling. The floor tiles were black and white and cracked in several places with some even missing in certain areas. The wooden chairs were worn out from age and their legs looked as if they’d been chewed at by rats, ready to collapse at any moment by whatever sad sap decided to sit down. The smell of cigarettes was heavy in the air not helped by the fact that the place didn’t seem to have any openable windows, so any chance of fresh air would have to come if someone kept the door open for awhile, which didn’t seem like the wisest of decisions if her surroundings were anything to go by.  


A sudden _THUMP_ put Lucy out of her thoughts as the door to what seemed to be the kitchen area opened, revealing who she could assume was either the owner or one of the chefs. He was a large man with heavy set eyes that squinted at her suspiciously. A white headband was tied around his sweat covered forehead and a cigarette hung loosely from his mouth which a had a prominent five o’ clock shadow and a few nicks from what she assumed was from shaving.  


“Whaddaya here for?” came his burly voice as he took a puff from his cigarette and walked towards her.  


“Umm, I think you sent out a request?” Lucy said as she fumbled to get the mission paper out of her pocket just to make sure she was, in fact, at the right place.  


The man snatched the paper out of her hands reading it over as he let out of puff of smoke onto her face. Lucy squinted and coughed as she fanned her hand in front of her face, silently hoping that she had gotten the request wrong so that she could leave. 

“Yeah, I sent this out.” 

Great.

“So that must mean you’re one of them magician types right?”

 _Magician types_. Oh god. Is that how people really saw mages and wizards around here? On equal level to someone who pulled rabbits out of hats and did card tricks? 

“Mage, actually, yes I am.” Lucy said as he handed the request back to her.  


“Wow, never thought I’d ever actually meet one in person, thought you people would just look at it and throw it away.”  


_‘Then why bother sending out a request?’_ Lucy thought as she awkwardly shook his large, sweaty hand. "If you don’t mind my asking. Why did you ask for help from a mage? Surely it would have been easier to ask one of the heroes that’s around?" She asked, swatting at a fly that was hovering around annoyingly close to her face.

“Well that’s where you’re wrong little miss. Truth is I’ve been asking since last week, but they don’t pay too much mind to my calls since they’re busy dealing with bigger fish. They don’t have time to come around and discipline punks for graffitiing a couple walls.” He sounded worn out, taking a seat in one of the chair’s that looked semi-descent and taking another puff from his cigarette.

“So, you called for a mage as a last resort?” Lucy wanted to be offended but she couldn’t bring herself to feel anything other than pity for this man. He looked like he was at his wit’s end, this business was probably all that he had, and people weren’t even doing anything to help him. How could these people stand to call themselves heroes? “What would you like me to do sir?”

To that he let out a chuckle. “You don’t have to be proper with me girly just call me Riki.”  


“Ok then, Riki-san. What would you like me to do?”  


“Just keep an eye out for any delinquents that may be around. I’m gonna try to get some paintin’ done outside the building today and I don’t want any kids coming around and ruining it by making any more graffiti or knocking over my paint cans. If you see any just scare ‘em off with whatever voodoo witchcraft you have.”  


_'So now it was voodoo witchcraft?'_ Lucy just smiled at him, her brow twitching in frustration, she nodded her head in agreement. Riki went into the back before coming back with two large cans of paint and a paint roller. They stepped outside, Riki walking ahead of her, grabbing a ladder from the alley next to the building.  


“So what kinda magic you got girly?”  


“It’s Lucy and I use celestial spirit magic.”  


“What the hell does that mean?”  


“Well I establish contracts with celestial spirits which are beings that are the representations of the constellations-“  


“I don’t have time for long winded explinations just do your magic already before those kids start showing up!”

_‘Talk about rude’_ Lucy thought as she requipped two of her keys. “Open gate of the lion and gate of the scorpion Loke, Scorpio!”

In a flash of light, the two spirits appeared ready to fight. Above on the ladder Riki whistled in amusement as he carried on painting. Lucy explained the situation to them, ignoring Loke's usual attempts at flirting before taking guarding positions on either side of the building while Lucy stood in the center, hand on her whip ready to deal with whoever decided to show up.

Hours passed and a few delinquents did in fact show up, with a few of them backing off quickly after seeing the two spirits. However, there were some that didn’t leave so easily. They talked smack before one of them came charging at Lucy, hand outstretched. He was quickly stopped by Scorpio who pushed him away with his sand. The other two that were with him panicked, quickly grabbing their friend and running away before things got worse.  


“So, are they just like your bodyguards or something?” came a voice from above, Lucy turning around to look at Riki who was still on his ladder. “Absolutely not, I see my spirits like they’re my friends, I fight alongside them.”  


“Then how come you haven’t been doing much?”  


“What?”  


“Well your spirits seem to be doing most of the work so how come you aren’t doing more?”  


“W-well it’s not like I don’t try! I’m pretty good with my whip but I’m not all that great at hand-to-hand combat.” Lucy said to him suddenly feeling incredibly embarrassed as she stared at the ground digging her foot into the dirt. It was true, in terms of actually fighting without her spirits Lucy wasn’t exactly the best at holding her own, she knew that better than anyone. But it wasn’t like she didn’t want to become stronger physically she was just busy dealing with team Natsu all the time that it didn’t leave much room to train. At least that’s what she told herself. But what about now? What was her excuse now? Lucy knew the answer to that, she just didn’t want to admit it.  


“Why don’t you just ask one of your mage friends to help you then? If there’s anyone even remotely similar to you surely there must be at least one that’s good at hand to hand combat.”  


Lucy thought about it for a moment. Ask someone for help? But who could she ask now? She had no idea where any of her friends were and even if she did who would she ask? Natsu and Erza would probably end up killing her and she didn’t want to risk Juvia killing her if she asked Gray, Wendy was also just barely learning how to fight close range as well. She could ask someone from another guild… the thought brought a strange panic to Lucy’s heart. She knew that if she just asked, they would do whatever they could to help, each of the guilds had told her that, after they caught wind of Fairy Tail’s disbandment. She wouldn’t be surprised if some of her guild mates decided to join some of them in the meantime. But the thought of walking in by herself and pitifully asking for help from one of them scared her as she felt her heartbeat quicken just thinking about it.

“Well that’s none of my business I guess, whatever floats your boat lady. I’m just about done so you can get ready to go home while I figure out how to get my payment through.”

_‘Almost done?’_ Lucy hadn’t even realized how late it had gotten until she actually looked around and realized the sun was already setting. Was she spacing out the entire time? How was it already this late? Riki got down from the ladder and Lucy unsummoned her two spirits also realizing just how tired she was from keeping them out for so long. They went inside to figure out just how much Riki needed to give her for the job. 

* * *

By the time they got done with the payment it was night time. Lucy walked out of the restaurant saying her goodbyes to the older man. She walked down the street lost in thought as to how to get back home now that the job was done. There probably weren’t going to be any boats leaving this time of night so her best bet was to stay at a hotel. She sighed at the thought since she needed whatever money she could spare if it was going to last her until she got home. Lucy aimlessly walked the streets not even noticing how lost she was getting, too busy thinking about how to split up her money that she didn’t notice the teen that was running up behind her. It wasn’t until she felt like she’d been shoved did she realize something was wrong. Her body felt lighter suddenly, feeling herself hit the ground and some kind of cloth covered her body, she tried to move it out of the way, but she couldn’t feel her fingers. She heard what sounded like a group of people laughing, coming closer to her, and suddenly the cloth was yanked off her. Her eyes adjusted to the light and when she could see clearly, she was met with several pairs of legs. _‘What the…?’_

One of them suddenly bent down and picked her up by the scruff of her back and she was now face to face with the boy from earlier. The one that was blasted away by Scorpio.  
  


“How’s it feel to be the smaller one now? Get ready because you're in for a world of hurt.”  


A flash of fear coursed throughout her body as the boy and his friends took her into one of the alleyways that was nearby. Once they were out of sight the boy threw her small body into the wall of one of the buildings and she let out a strange pained sound. _‘Why can’t I scream?’_ looking up at them they began to surround her, her fear growing the closer they got. She wanted to run away, scream out for help, or summon one of her spirits but her body was frozen in place. As soon as one of them bent down to grab her she tried her best to let out some kind of noise.  


“MEOW”  


* * *

Aizawa Shouta was making his way home from his night patrol when a commotion in a nearby alley caught his attention. Well more specifically, the distressed sounds of a cat were what really had him coming over to see what was wrong. It was only known by his closer friends about his soft spot for cats. That being said he had never owned one himself, not because he didn’t want one, but because he didn’t think he could take care of one, what with his busy schedule and all.  


Coming up to the alley he saw a group of pre-teens with their backs turned to him laughing at something that one of them seemed to be holding. The sounds of a distressed cat only growing louder.  


“Oi, what are you kids doing?”  


At the sound of his voice the kids turned around, revealing that one of them was holding a cat upside down by its tail. Realizing that he was a pro-hero they quickly dropped the cat and ran away before he could stop them. Turning back to the cat, he looked at the pitiful ball of fluff on the ground. 

But there was something intriguing about the cat. For one, its fur was a golden hue, not an orangish color like some cats were, more of a pure yellowish gold. He went over and picked up the creature as delicately as he could as to not cause it more harm. It was light and its fur was the softest he’d ever felt on a cat. He couldn’t tell exactly what kind of breed the cat was since its gold color was confusing but based the size and how long its fur was, it looked like a mix between a Maine Coon and a Ragdoll. The cat stirred in his arms before lifting its head to look at him. Its eyes were large and golden brown, letting out a pitiful mewl at the sight of him. Shouta felt his heart melt hearing the sounds of this poor cat in pain so, against his better judgment, he started off towards home holding the golden ball of fluff in his arms. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, I'm honestly surprised that anybody bothered to read this. But I'm happy that at least one person did. More interactions between these two will happen next chapter and maybe more of the spicy parts as well either next chapter or the one after. Thank you for reading :)


	3. Adopted?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lucy wakes up in Shouta's apartment and finally meets him, sorta.

When Lucy woke up, she thought for a second that she was home and that the events in the alley were nothing more than a bad dream. That thought quickly went out the window as, when she lifted her hand to rub her eyes, she was met with a paw. Panicking she tried to get up but a sharp pain in her left side made her sit back down. Lucy took a moment to take in her surroundings and was surprised at what she was met with. She was in…  


The most boring apartment she’d ever seen.  


The place looked like whoever lived here had just barely moved in, but there were little things that said otherwise. From the closet full of clothes with some being messily strewn about, to the fact that the apartment had its own unique smell, specifically that of pine and coffee, which was actually quite relaxing. But who’s apartment was this? Lucy looked around for clues to see if she could figure out who it was that brought her here. She was on their bed which was just as minimal as the rest of the room, one pillow and a plain grey sheet. Clearly, she was dealing with a psychopath. No one should just have one pillow on their bed willingly. Next to the bed was a nightstand, it had a lamp and a pair of yellow goggles on it. The goggles looked out of place compared to the rest of the room, with their bright yellow color and the rest of the room being so achromatic, but in their own way they almost seemed fitting. The goggles weren’t the only yellow thing in the room either as, what looked to be either a sleeping bag or some kind of blanket was rolled up in the closet. Clearly this person had an aesthetic going for them. The only other things in the room were a small bookshelf and a dresser. 

Lucy tried to remember the events of last night to find a possible lead. Last night… she'd left the old man’s restaurant after finishing the mission then she walked around trying to figure out what to do next. That was when she suddenly fell and got literally picked up by one of the delinquents that she warded off, then all she could remember was the pain. The pain of getting thrown, kicked and getting picked up by the tail. _By the tail?_ It was also clear to Lucy that she wasn’t exactly human anymore. That boy most have done something to her to cause her to turn into whatever she was now. Judging by the paws, fur and tail it was clear she was an animal specifically either a cat or a dog if she had to guess. Looking down at her paw again it triggered another memory from that night, of her inability to scream and instead emit a different type of cry. She had meowed.  


No…  


Was she… a cat?  


Lucy then looked around the room with the sudden urge to quickly find a mirror, remembering that the dresser had a mirror attached to it. Getting down from the bed as carefully as she could she quickly made her way toward the dresser. But how was she going to get up there? Well, if she really was a cat than this shouldn’t be a problem, right? Looking up at the dresser she focused on the top of the table. Getting into position, everything around her seemed to vanish as now the only thing that mattered was getting to the top of that dresser. She felt an excited tingle course throughout her body, mainly in her legs. Taking a deep breath, she pushed herself upward with her back legs, feeling as her body lifted up into the air…  
  
…and slam headfirst into the edge of the table.  
  


“Pfft.”  
  


_Huh?_ Luckily the hit wasn’t that painful, and she landed back on her feet without any problem but that didn’t make it any less humiliating. Especially with whoever the heck just laughed. Looking over she noticed that there was now a man standing in the doorway of the room. He was lanky with his messy, long black hair tied back into a ponytail. He wore an all-black ensemble of a black V-neck shirt and black sweatpants. He looked tired but his stubbled face had an amused smirk as he looked at her. He looked tall but then again everything looked huge in comparison to her small body. “Good to see you’re so active,” he said. His voice was deep and sounded just as tired as he looked. He began to walk toward her, and she slowly began to back up, the memories of last nights beating coming back to her more strongly now. He stopped about a foot away from her before slowly bending down and holding out his hand to her. 

“Ssshh it’s okay now. You’re safe.” His voice was hushed and soothing, even his gaze was gentle as he looked at her. Timidly she began to inch closer to his hand until it was in front of her face. She sniffed it finding that he smelled faintly of coffee but there was also the smell of cleaning products and hand sanitizer. _Had he been cleaning?_ That hand then delicately placed itself on her head petting between her ears and down her back. It felt. Nice. Really nice. He went back to petting her head and she leaned into his touch, never before had she felt so calm and secure by just someone's touch. His hand then carefully reached underneath between her front legs and picked her up using his other hand to support her backside. He scratched under her chin and she purred at his actions. 

“That’s a good kitty.” Something about the way he said that had her heart beating faster for a second. 

No. She had to get her head out of the gutter. There was no way she was into _that_ kind of thing. Especially not with some scruffy looking man who she literally just met and was only calling her that because he really thought she was a cat. Yeah that’s right. As far as this man was concerned, she was just some random cat he got off the street. But she wasn’t. She wasn’t a cat; she was a human. A human who had to get home right now. How was she supposed to tell him that though?

The man carried her out of the room into what looked like the kitchen/living room. It was just as boring as his bedroom was. There weren’t really any decorations, just a minimal amount of furniture and that was it. There was a plain black couch with a coffee table in front of it and a large desk in the corner. The desk was the only thing that was even remotely interesting since it had a laptop and a few papers scattered across it as well as a printer. _‘Does he seriously live like this?’_

He brought her over to the small kitchen setting her down on the island counter before walking over to the refrigerator. He pulled out a small Tupperware container and opened it, briefly looking inside of it before closing the fridge and walking over to put it in the microwave. Looking around his kitchen it was, again, just as boring as the rest of the apartment. No plants, no pictures, not even any fridge magnets, just bland and boring and she could feel herself falling asleep just looking at all this nothing. What did catch her eye though was the pink calendar next to the fridge. A Pusheen calendar… so this guy liked cats. Good to know. 

The beep of the microwave brought her out of her thoughts as he set the container down in front of her and the smell of chicken entered her senses. Throughout all of this happening she forgot just how hungry she actually was. Looking into the container it looked like a few bits of rotisserie chicken on rice. Feeling her stomach growl just looking at it. But was it really alright? 

“Sorry this is kind of all I have right now, I should probably get you some cat food tomorrow though,” he said to her, noticing her hesitation 

Lucy didn’t need to be told twice as she began to dig into the mini feast before her. The chicken was still kind of cold, but it might as well have been a five-star meal to her with how hungry she was. 

“Geez, you must have been out on the streets for a while with how hungry you are. This must be the first proper thing you’ve eaten huh?” 

Not really, but if it got her fed, she wouldn’t object to it. She finished her food quickly, licking her lips afterward, the man petting her head a few more times before picking her up again. He brought her back to the room and set her back on the bed before heading over to the closet and rummaging around through it. Lucy tilted her head at him wondering what it was he might be looking for before he pulled out a shoe box. He walked over to the nightstand, opening the drawer and pulling out a magazine, flipping through it, he ripped out a few of the pages and put them into the shoe box before turning to her. 

“This’ll be your litterbox for now ok?” 

_Oh hell no._

She had to find a way to turn back into a human. There was no way that she was going to subject herself to going to the bathroom in a box. No way no how. But how was she going to do that? She had no idea how that boy’s power worked, and she had no way of asking him. Oh god, what if she stayed like this forever? What if she was forced to live her life as this guy’s pet for the rest of her life, being forced to eat cat food and use the litterbox until she died at the old age of 16? How old was she now anyway? Nonononono she was gonna get out. She had to. 

While Lucy was going through different plans in her head, she didn’t notice the man had left to get ready for bed until he came back and nudged her over. He got under the covers and turned out the light before turning onto his side, facing her. Lucy just stared at him; his eyes were closed but it was clear he wasn’t asleep. Where was she supposed to sleep? 

As if feeling her staring, the man cracked open an eye to look at her, seeing her gazing at him with a blank look on her face. He sighed. 

“You can sleep on the bed, but you better not just stare at me the whole night.” 

Honestly sleep was the last thing she wanted to do, she had to find a way out of here and figure out a way to turn back. But even Lucy knew just how hopeless that thought was right now. Even if she did find a way out of the apartment, she didn’t know where to even begin looking. Maybe she could go back to that alley…oh god. That alley. Her clothes. It hadn’t even dawned on Lucy that when she had turned into a cat her clothes as well as her wallet and whip had gotten left behind near the alley. She had to go back and find them. What if somebody found her stuff and stole her wallet and clothes? She shuddered at the thought of some pervert finding her clothes and either wearing them or selling them for money. 

Curling up into a ball Lucy felt like she wanted to cry. All she wanted to do was go on a mission to make a little extra money and get out of the house but now she was stuck as a cat being taken care of by some guy who lived in the most boring apartment ever. It wasn’t like she wasn’t grateful for him though. He had saved her from being beaten to death and even took her home and fed her. He seemed like a nice guy, if not a bit bland and lonely. What would he think once he found out she wasn’t actually a cat? Would he kick her out in disgust? Would he call the police on her thinking she was some kind of criminal? The thought didn’t help to ease her worries as she felt herself shaking in fear and anxiety. She just wanted to go home… 

A warm hand made its way across her back soothingly. Looking up, she saw the man looking at her with half lidded eyes as he pet her. Lucy moved over and curled herself up against his side finding comfort in his warmth. At least for now while he still thought she was a cat she would take advantage of the situation and enjoy cuddling up against him. It had been awhile since she felt the warmth of someone else’s body against her own, remembering the times when she would wake up to find Natsu asleep in her bed. It had irked her then, but she found herself missing it the more time went on. She felt herself purring as he continued to lazily pet her and slowly but surely, they both fell asleep against each other. 

* * *

Lucy awoke the next day to the feeling of the man getting out of bed. She briefly looked up for a moment seeing him leave the room, followed by the sound of the shower running. Lucy decided to just go back to sleep since she really didn’t know what else to do. It didn’t feel like she had been asleep for long before the sound of a phone ringing woke her up again. She saw that his cellphone was ringing on the nightstand and she went over to see who was calling. The name HIZASHI flashed across the screen and she wondered if it was a friend or relative that was calling him. The sound of the shower running stopped and a couple minutes later the man came into the room, his hair was still wet causing small trails of water to go down his back and torso. The only thing he had on was a towel. The sight of him had Lucy in awe, those clothes weren’t doing him any favors. He was incredibly well built with a fine set of abs and lean physique. Now, Lucy was no stranger to well built men. Gray went around half naked every day and Natsu only wore a vest up until recently but something about seeing him like this made something stir within her. Maybe it was because of how wrong this was, he just thought she was a cat, a cat that wouldn’t care about the fact that he was almost naked because it doesn’t know what naked even means. 

Lucy quickly turned around feeling incredibly embarrassed and perverted for seeing him like this. All naked and wet, he even had a fair bit of body hair which looked good on him. It made her wonder what he was hiding behind that…. NONONONONO. _‘STOP STOP STOP thinking about that!’_ Instead Lucy listened to what he was talking about with the person on the phone trying not to think about the almost naked man that was standing a few feet behind her.

“Come on Shouta, just this once?” 

“I already said no Hizashi, unless it’s important I’m not going..” 

_‘So his name is Shouta, that’s good to know.’_ Shouta then walked out of the room before she could hear the rest of the conversation. There was an empty feeling after he left, it felt wrong and immediately she felt the urge to go and find him. _‘No’_. What was she thinking? The room suddenly felt like it was getting warmer and she felt her heartbeat quicken. What was this feeling? The smell of him became stronger to her and she felt like she wanted nothing more than to be enveloped in that smell. She needed his scent. She needed him. She began to cry out. Cry out for him. The heat was becoming unbearable and she felt herself arching her back, she needed it. Needed it NOW. Suddenly she felt a change in herself and when she opened her eyes the room didn’t seem as big anymore, but it still felt so unbearably hot. She needed a release and she slowly felt her hand trail down to where the heat was the most prominent. She felt her essence leaking down her thighs and she dipped one finger into herself, letting out a mewl. It wasn’t enough. She needed more. She needed… 

Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of something hitting the floor, looking towards where the sound came from, she was met with a pair of surprised grey eyes gazing back at her 

_Oh no…_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> More people are beginning to read this, it honestly makes me really happy especially since I didn't know what to expect. Thank you for the kudos and for bookmarking this story. It means a lot. 
> 
> We're finally getting to the good stuff, expect more of it next chapter :)


	4. Confrontation*

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aizawa confronts the strange woman he just found on his bed, fun times ensue.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Smut in this chapter, you have been warned!

It was around 9:00 when Shouta woke up that morning. The first thing he noticed was the warm purring ball of fluff that was cuddled up next to him. Oh yeah. That’s right. He had sort of adopted a cat last night. A very strange golden cat which had only gotten stranger when he took it home. The cat didn’t seem to have any external injuries but just based off seeing how that boy was dangling her by the tail last night he knew not to assume that she gotten out completely unscathed. Once he got home, he set the cat, which had now gone to sleep, on his bed while he went to see if there were any vet’s open this time of night. As he suspected, there weren’t. Deciding to call again in the morning, he went to check up on the cat again. Only to find it hitting its head on his dresser. He let out a small laugh at its antics causing it to quickly turn around to face him.  


As he anticipated the cat backed away from him when he tried to get closer to it. It probably didn’t trust humans after what it had been through. Making sure to keep his distance he held out his hand for her to sniff which she timidly did after a moment. To his surprise the cat immediately seemed alright with him petting her and even allowed him to pick her up without any protest. _‘Did this used to be someone’s cat?' _it would explain why she seemed fine with him and it probably also meant that she could be chipped. _‘Another question to ask the vet tomorrow’ _he thought to himself. Deep down he almost felt sad at the possibility that she could have an owner that she had to be returned to. No. It was illogical to start getting attached to a cat he hadn’t even owned for a full day yet. Even more illogical was the thought of keeping her if it turned out she didn’t have an owner. For years Shouta had encountered many cats in his life but, despite his love for them, he never allowed himself to keep a single one.____

_____ _

____

He tried to live his life by the most logical decisions and keeping a cat while his schedule was the way that it was, was seen as illogical to him. But sometimes he made decisions that slipped through the cracks of his logic and allowed his emotions to guide him. 

Right now, would be one of those times. 

Shouta had gotten out of the shower to answer his phone, in his rush he had only wrapped a towel around his waist seeing no reason to put on anything else, after all this was his home. His long-time friend Hizashi had called him, inviting him out for drinks as he would on occasion, to which Shouta, like always, rejected his offering. While Shouta didn’t mind getting a drink every now and then what he did mind was his friend’s antics that would progressively get worse throughout the night. He also didn’t want to risk getting drunk around his friend again as, even though he could never remember what happened, Hizashi never passed up the opportunity to remind him of whatever embarrassing things he had done whilst remaining completely stoic throughout. He had left the room for a moment mindlessly pacing about his apartment as he continued his conversation when he heard the cries of the cat. 

They were high and dragged out calls that immediately caught his attention and had him turning to go back into his room. Hastily ending his call with his friend his sentence was cut short at the sight before him on his bed. 

A naked woman was splayed out across his bed, back arched, her face was buried in his pillow while one of her hands was between her thighs, a single finger buried in her glistening sex as her juices ran down the backs of her thighs. She let out a shy mewl that snapped him out of his haze, dropping his phone in the process. 

At the sound of his phone hitting the ground the mystery woman’s eyes snapped open as they stared at each other for what felt like the longest time. A look of fear registered across her features and a fierce blush covered her face to the tips of her ears. Her body quickly moved until it was in a fetal position as she hugged her legs to her chest and buried her face in her knees. Her long golden hair fell forward further hiding her from view as she began shaking. 

A string of apologies fell from her lips along with a messy string of other words that tried to form a coherent sentence but failed, only further accentuated by her voice cracking the more she tried to say something. 

Shouta had no idea what was going on. He had just walked in on a woman masturbating on his bed and now said woman was crying and apologizing to him still fully naked. What should he do? Should he call the police and tell them a crazy woman had broken into his house? Should he ask her if she’s alright? Should he kick her out? There was only one thing that Shouta could come up with within that moment. 

“Who are you?” 

The woman stopped speaking for a second, but her sobs still continued and after a moment she answered him, her face still pressed into her legs. 

“Lucy…Lucy Heartfilia.” 

He had never heard that name before, so it was clear that they had probably never met as far as he knew. But that didn’t explain why she was in his apartment or how she had even gotten here. Again, he stared at her for a moment taking her in. Her pale body was still trembling, and even though she was trying her best to hide herself from view it was clear how curvy her figure was. Her face was still hidden from view though, obscured by her hair and legs but from what he could remember her eyes were brown. Golden brown. 

Shouta inhaled deeply, preparing himself to ask her the question that he already knew the answer to. 

“Were you, the cat?” 

Again, her voice came out cracked and almost unintelligible, but he could make out a “yes” from her sad pitiful voice. He pinched the bridge of his nose before he approached her quivering body on his bed. Kneeling down in front of her, he tried his best to remain calm and figure out what exactly was going on. 

"Look at me.” 

The girl didn’t budge from her position, instead she tightened the hold she had on herself refusing to look at him. Shouta was far too tired to deal with something like this first thing in the morning, if she wasn’t going to cooperate than he would just have to make her. 

"If you don’t explain to me who it is that you are and what you’re doing here then I’m going to have no choice but to turn you into the authorities.” 

Her body stiffened and slowly she lifted her head to look at him. Her eyes were red from crying and tear streaks went down her blushed cheeks. It didn’t really bother him seeing her cry like this. Throughout his career as a hero it was common for some petty criminals to burst into tears before they were taken away into custody. It was just something he had learned to deal with and something he knew not to let himself get affected by. 

Lucy swallowed hard before she spoke, but it was clear that she was trying not to burst into tears after every word. 

“M-my name is Lucy Heartfilia a-and I’m a mage from Fairy Tail. I-I came here because of a mission and after I got done a boy turned me into a cat as payback for r-reprimanding him as part of my mission. You found me after that and took me home, I swear I wasn’t trying to do anything illegal!” 

She began to cry again as Shouta processed the information she had given him. A mage? Mages rarely, if ever, tended to step foot around these places but it wasn’t completely unheard of for people to send out requests to mages. If the boy really had used his quirk to turn her into a cat, then the quirk probably just wore off while he took his phone call. Her story checked out but that didn’t explain why she had decided to pleasure herself on his bed. 

"Why were you masturbating on my bed then?” 

She flinched at his words and looked away from him again, the blush returning to her face. 

“I don’t know I just suddenly felt really hot while I was still a cat and even though I turned back into a human my body still feels really hot and I couldn’t help it so I just started…” 

She trailed off and hid her face into her knees again. So that was it then. She had gone into heat and was still feeling its effects despite being a human again. Looking at her he noticed the slight shifting of her legs; she was rubbing her thighs together in an attempt to get some kind of friction where she needed it most. Aizawa knew that he couldn’t just send her out like this, who knows what kind of trouble she’d end up in. Sighing, Aizawa knew what he had to do, even if his brain was telling him to try to figure something else out, he didn’t give it a second thought. 

“Are you clean?” 

“Huh?”  


“I’m going to try to help you out, but I need to know if you’re clean first.” 

Lucy audibly gulped before nodding and finally bringing her legs away from her chest. “Y-yes.” 

Shouta sat on the bed before grabbing her shoulders and leading her off the bed until she was knelt in front of him, face level with his crotch. He took off the towel revealing his semi-hard member to her. Lucy blushed at the sight of him. While she was by no means a virgin, she had never had her face this close to a man’s penis before. Looking up at him he looked at her expectantly, but her eyes looked lost. 

“If I’m going to help you then you're going to have to help me out a bit too. So come on, let’s see you use that pretty mouth of yours, kitten.” 

Fuck. There it was again. That word, only now she didn’t deny her body the pleasure it felt from hearing him say that. Lucy brought her hand up to stroke him, feeling the warm, velvety flesh in her palm. She heard him let out a breath as she continued to stroke him, noticing how he was getting harder the more she continued her actions. His tip began leaking and dripped down his cock making it easier for her to stroke him. Leaning in Lucy licked the underside of his member along the prominent vein that was there, and she heard him swear under his breath, bringing up his hand to rest on her head. Lucy took the tip into her mouth tasting the slightly salty flavor of him. Aizawa tangled his fingers into her hair as he pushed her head down further, enjoying the hot, wet feeling of her mouth. It was clear that this was her first time doing this but he didn’t complain since she wasn’t nearly as bad as she could be. 

“Hollow your cheeks,” he said to her, his voice sounding lower than it had previously been. Lucy complied and hollowed her cheeks around him while still trying to lick him as best as she could. His scent completely filled her senses, which maybe if she was in the right state of mind would have bothered her but right now, she felt herself growing wetter, wanting more of his smell, his taste, his sounds. Lucy breathed in through her nose as she pushed herself further down his length, slightly gagging as she felt him hit the back of her throat. 

Once Aizawa felt his tip hit the farthest it could go in her throat, that was when he lost all self-control, roughly grabbing at her blonde tresses and moving her head roughly up and down his cock. Lucy sputtered as spit rolled down her chin and making a mess all over him. Even though she felt her throat burning and the corners of her eyes welled up with more tears she didn’t want him to stop. She reached between her legs feeling how wet she was and began rubbing circles on her clit. More. More. She needed more. She needed to feel him inside her. 

As if reading her mind Aizawa removed her head from his cock relishing in seeing her lips now swollen red and her pupils blown wide as she looked up at him. Bringing her back up on the bed he laid her down on her back before spreading her legs open, beholding the delectable sight before him. Her lips were completely hairless, blushed pink and glistening with need. Seeing him stare so intently at her, Lucy tried to close her legs in embarrassment but his firm grip on her thighs kept them spread apart. 

“Don’t try to hide such a pretty pussy from me kitten. I just want to have a taste.” 

Lucy turned her head away in embarrassment, hiding her face behind her hands only to let out a squeal and buck her hips when she felt his warm tongue lick along her slit. Aizawa sucked on her clit before continuing to lick away at her juices that leaked out of her more and more. Lucy tried to hold back her moans, covering her mouth as she threw her head back unable to stop her body from trying to thrust onto his face. Aizawa held her down as he continued to eat her like a man starved, upon noticing her attempt to remain quiet he thrust two of his fingers into her, curling them at a fast pace and making it harder for Lucy to hold back her moans. 

“Don’t hide your purrs from me kitten. I want to hear that cute voice of yours cry out as I make you cum.” Focusing on fingering her, Lucy’s body wildly twitched unable to handle the amount of pleasure that she had never felt before. It was becoming too much for her, the wet sounds her body was being forced to make, his fingers brushing against her g-spot with each stroke, and how pleased Shouta looked at seeing her unravel before him. The coil in her stomach grew tighter and Lucy knew she wouldn’t be able to hold out much longer. 

“S-Shouta I can’t, I-I’m gonna…!” 

“Go ahead kitten, just let it all out. Let me see you cum all over daddy’s fingers.” 

Daddy…hearing him say that brought Lucy over the edge, feeling as her orgasm ripped through her entire body. It was much more intense than anything she’d ever felt before and it made her see white in her vision. She felt like she had just run a mile as she tried to catch her breath, cracking one of her eyes open she looked at Aizawa who had a pleasantly surprised look on his face, his hand was dripping with a clear fluid. Had she just? 

“How naughty of you kitten, I take care of you and you make a mess all over my bed. You should have told me you were a squirter." 

Lucy didn’t think her face could get any redder, but this man proved her wrong. She didn’t tell him because she didn’t know that either. Never in her entire life had she felt like that and now that she had, she wanted to feel it again. 

Lucy spread her legs holding them under her knees, putting her twitching cunt on display for him. She looked at him with pleading eyes that Shouta thought for a moment he could see heart’s in, if he looked close enough. 

“Please daddy I need you, inside me. Please.” 

Who was he to deny such a request? Especially when she was begging so cutely. Aizawa positioned himself at her entrance running his cock along her slit before pushing in. They both sucked in air through their teeth as Shouta began to move slowly inside her, waiting for her to adjust. Lucy let out small, high pitched moans enjoying the feeling of being filled for the first time in a long time. Gradually Shouta began to quicken his pace until the sound of his hips hitting hers filled the room along with their moans. Lucy had let go of her legs at that point and was instead gripping onto the sheets for dear life. His pace was so fast and rough she knew she’d be sore the next day, but she didn’t care, if anything she wanted him to go rougher and deeper until she couldn’t remember her own name. Looking up at him, his brows were furrowed and a bead of sweat went down his neck as he focused on pounding her. His eyes opened as well, and they looked at each other properly for the first time. Lucy wrapped her arms around his neck as she brought him down to connect their lips in a surprisingly tender kiss. His lips were slightly chapped but it didn’t matter to her right now, the feeling of them kissing brought a new level of pleasure for her and for him too apparently as his pace somehow managed to get rougher until she could feel the tip of him kissing against the entrance of her cervix. 

Lucy ran her fingers through his hair feeling how it was still wet and a bit tangled, which made her wonder if he was taking care of it properly. Aizawa had also come to wrap his arms around her until their bodies were held tightly against each other. Pulling away from the kiss Lucy felt herself about to reach a second orgasm, wrapping her legs around his waist and digging her heels into his butt as if trying to make him go impossibly deeper. 

“Daddy I’m gonna-!” 

“Go ahead kitten, cum all over my cock.” 

Her hips jerked upward as she reached her peak once again at the hands of this man, but his hips didn’t stop their assault. Lucy’s body was incredibly sensitive at this point after two orgasms, but she had no choice except to lay there and take everything he had to give her. He buried his face in her neck sucking and biting at the sensitive flesh that was there, his thrusts becoming desperate and irregular. He whispered words of praise into her ear before biting down onto her neck as his hips came to one last final harsh thrust deep inside her. Lucy felt a warm feeling in her stomach knowing that he had spilt his seed within her which brought a strangely happy feeling to her heart. 

They both laid there panting, covered in sweat as the smell of their deed was thick in the air. Shouta’s head was on top of her chest and her face was buried in his hair smelling his shampoo. They both knew that they should probably move now, but instead they stayed still in each other’s arms and he had yet to pull out of her, too tired to even do that. Lucy felt her eyes grow heavy taking one last look at him and giving him a lazy smile. 

“Thank you, Shouta.” Her voice came out tired before she finally succumbed to sleep. 

Aizawa looked up at her and sighed. Her face had a faint pink blush and her eyes had been glossy from unshed tears. She was beautiful. Now that she was asleep, he was left with his now sobered thoughts. _'What did I just do?' _Not only did he just have sex with a woman he just met today but also came inside her with no warning. What were they supposed to do now? Talk about it? Send her home and never talk to each other again? For once Aizawa didn’t know what the logical solution to this was as he felt his eyes growing heavier. For now, they would just sleep, he could figure out what to do when he woke up. She better consider herself lucky it was his day-off.__

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was my first time writing a lemon so hopefully it wasn't too bad. Thank you for the kudos, it means a lot.


	5. Afternoon after

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lucy and Aizawa finally have a proper talk with each other and go grocery shopping. Teasing ensues.

Shouta woke up to the smell of coffee and an empty bed. He groaned as he remembered the events of that morning knowing that they had to talk about what happened. Quickly putting on a pair of black boxers and an old white t-shirt, sighing, knowing that he would likely have to shower again and wash the sheets before he left later that afternoon. Stepping into the kitchen, former cat returned human now known to him as Lucy was placing bowls of food on the table along with two cups of coffee. A blue sleep shirt dangled off her small frame and her hair was tied back into a high ponytail, the hickey’s that he'd left were now more prominent on her collarbone, the red standing out like odd flowers blooming among the white snow that was her skin. Noticing his entrance Lucy looked at him and blushed before looking down and staring at her feet. It reminded him less of a woman who had just gotten done with a one night stand and more like a child on their first day of school. 

“Hi… I uh made you breakfast, or I guess lunch, if you don’t mind.” Her voice, much like her mannerisms, came out small and unsure. Her foot already starting its steady rhythm against the tile floor of his kitchen, creating the fast paced and uncontrolled tune of her anxiousness.

“Where did you get those clothes?” Shouta asked her, looking at her with a blank expression on his face, unsure as to how to perceive this intimate stranger.

“Huh? Oh, I used my magic to change my clothes, I decided to just wear this since I didn’t know if I could use your shower or not.”

“Then how come you didn’t use your magic to put on some clothes this morning?” Aizawa could already feel a tick mark forming against his brow at her casualness of something so pivotal. 

“O-oh well, you know, it was a really high emotions moment and I-I wasn’t thinking about that when _that_ was going on.” Lucy blushed bright red, feeling her eyes spinning and she began fumbling with her fingers trying to explain herself as best she could, hoping that what she was saying made sense and she didn't just come off as some bumbling mad woman more than she already was.

“Hmm, alright then. You can shower after we eat, and I’d like to ask a few questions if that’s okay.” Despite the indifference of his words, Aizawa's tone had a finality to it that left no room for second opinions. It made Lucy want to squirm like an ant under a microscope, unable to hide from his prying gaze.

“Yeah that’s fine,” Lucy said nodding her head as they both sat down to eat, even if she'd just swallowed a large spoonful of her own nerves. 

“I hope you don’t mind that it’s just tamago gohan, you didn’t really have a whole lot of ingredients.”

“It’s fine, this is probably the healthiest thing I’ve eaten in a while. I mostly just live off of fast food and juice pouches lately.” Shouta said digging into the food which tasted good, but this dish was hard to mess up.

“That’s worrying,” Lucy said having a sip of coffee, sweat dropping at what he said.

They ate in silence for a moment and despite the situation it didn’t feel as awkward to them as it probably should have.

“So, what’s your deal then?” Aizawa asked between bites of food.

“What do you mean?” Lucy asked cocking a brow at him.

“Like, where are you from, why’d you take a request to come here in the first place? Surely there had to be better jobs for mages that didn’t involve traveling across the ocean and getting turned into a cat.”

“Oh, well I’m from Fiore and the guild that I’m in or was in was Fairy Tail” she said giving a dry laugh and a sad smile at him.  


“Was? What, did you get kicked out?” 

“No nothing like that, my guild disbanded not too long ago so I had to start taking public missions along with getting a side job to support myself.”

“Oh, why did your guild disband?”

“To be honest I’m not entirely sure myself but, no one opposed it happening. I have a feeling I know why but I can’t confirm it and I probably never will.”

“Why did you decide to take the mission alone then? Haven’t you kept in contact with your other guild members or joined a different guild?”

“I did when the guild was still processing that we were now disbanded. But after a few weeks everyone had gone their separate ways and I haven’t heard from them since. I was invited to join a few different guilds but…it just didn’t feel right. Fairy Tail is going to regroup one day and when that happens, I’ll be ready with my guild mark still proudly showing!” Lucy’s voice was filled with determination as she held up her hand to show off her pink guild mark to him. Aizawa looked at it for a moment with an unreadable expression on his face before sighing and pushing her hand down.

“What if it doesn’t?”

“What?”

“What if your guild never regroups? Are you just going to live off of doing low paying jobs while your friends have already moved on and started their own lives anew?”

Lucy looked at him shocked feeling anger rise up as her grip on the seat of the chair tightened. “How can you say that? You don’t know a thing about my guild, I know that master has something planned and Fairy Tail will come together again one day. I know it will!” 

Aizawa was unfazed by her outburst, resting his hand on his palm and staring into his now empty cup.

“How long has it been? Since your guild disbanded, I mean.”

“A little more than a month now.”

“I’m just saying, it’s illogical to hold on to the past when it comes to something like this. You’re right, I don’t know anything about your guild or what their plans are but surely this isn’t what they would’ve wanted for their members, right? Let’s say that your guild does get back together one day, and they ask you what you’ve been doing in the time everyone’s been gone. Do you really want to tell them that you haven’t been doing anything productive and that you’ve been doing the equivalent of a minimum wage job waiting for the guild to get back together? Or do you want to tell them that you’ve become a better person since then and you’ve grown both physically and mentally, focusing on the future instead of clinging to the past like a lost puppy?”

Lucy was speechless deep down she wanted to be mad. She wanted to slap him and tell him that any day now Fairy Tail was going to get back together and everybody would be the same as they’d always been, that change didn’t need to happen just because everyone had left for a few weeks. But she knew he was right. She just couldn’t bring herself to say that though.  
Aizawa got up and put his dishes in the sink. He knew he wasn’t the best at comforting people, he was too blunt for that. But he knew that she needed to hear that, whether it got through to her or not. It wasn’t his problem if she changed her ways or kept living her life the way she currently did. He probably wasn’t going to see her again after today anyway. He made his way towards his bedroom but stopped, looking over his shoulder at her. 

“The shower is down the hall to the left; we need to get ready to go out soon.”

“Go out? Go out where?”

“I need to do some grocery shopping, and that reminds me. Are you on the pill?”

Lucy blushed remembering the entire reason why she was here in the first place, more specifically what had happened literally a few hours prior.  
“N-no. I don’t really, you know, do that very often so I didn’t- “

“I don’t need to hear your sexual history it was a yes or no question. Do you want to shower first, or should I go first? Unless of course, you want to shower with me?”

At this point Lucy was sure her blood was never going to leave her face as most of the time that she’d been here all she’d done was get flustered over all the things he did.  
“N-no! No way I’m doing something like that!”

“Woah there kitten, no need to get so embarrassed. After all it’s nothing you haven’t seen before,” Aizawa said giving her a Cheshire grin that unsettled her.

“You need to learn how to smile,” she said without even thinking. Realizing what she said she tried to apologize waving her hands in front of her face trying to explain that she didn’t mean what she said in a bad way.Aizawa watched her flustered display in amusement letting out a chuckle at her antics. Never before had he met someone that blushed so easily and had such amusing reactions to things. He found it…cute. He patted her head, bringing her tirade to a stop. “You’re going to be fun to tease I can tell.”

“Please don’t.”

“Too late, I’ve already made up my mind. Now let’s hurry and get ready. You can shower first if it’ll make you feel better.”

“Alright, oh and um Shouta-san.”

“What is it?”

“Thank you.”

“Was I really that good?”

“That’s not what I meant! I mean thank you for taking care of me!” Lucy said while beating at his chest. “Yeah I know I just wanted to see how you would react.” Aizawa said grinning at her again. Lucy angrily pouted at him before marching past him to the bathroom in a huff. 

Aizawa chuckled at her as she closed the door. ‘Maybe she would actually be fun to keep around’ he thought to himself as he busied himself with changing the sheets.

* * *

Aizawa and Lucy walked around the grocery store, Aizawa was lazily pushing the cart while Lucy gave him advice on what to get. He didn’t know why she was doing that, but she seemed to know what she was talking about when it came to nutrition, so he just let her do her thing. 

“When are you supposed to go home anyway?” Aizawa asked her as she grabbed a bag of potatoes from a pile. She stilled for a second before getting a horrified look on her face.

“Oh crap, you just reminded me!” 

“What is it now?”

“When I got turned into a cat, I lost my clothes which had my wallet in them.”

Lucy started panicking muttering to herself about how could she be so foolish as to forget something like that. The people in the grocery store started giving them weird looks that Aizawa didn’t appreciate. He hated being the center of attention, so he tried to calm her down before things got out of hand. 

“Listen we can go find your wallet later if it would make you feel better, just calm down okay?” he said putting his hands on her shoulders. 

“You would do that for me?” Lucy said looking at him with hopeful eyes.

“Yeah, sure but let’s finish shopping first okay?”

Lucy nodded at him happily, although deep down she still felt anxious about finding her stuff thinking about all the terrible possibilities that involved her never getting her belongings back. Aizawa noticed her discomfort by the fact that her foot was bopping up and down again, deciding to ask her some questions to distract her.

“What kind of magic do you use?” he asked while grabbing a packet of protein drinks.

“I use celestial spirit magic; it’s not considered a very strong magic, but I like it a lot and the bonds I’ve gained through it makes it worth it to me.” 

“What’s it do?” he asked noticing that his tactic was seeming to work as her eyes lit up at the mention of her magic.

“Well I- “Lucy was about to explain the details of her magic but suddenly remembered her conversation with the restaurant owner and decided to spare the details.

“I summon spirits through making contracts with them. That’s about it really.” 

Aizawa noticed her sudden deflation and knew she was holding something back, pondering if he should ask her about it or not.

“What does that mean though? Do you have to bite your thumb or something in order to summon them, do you have to do some sort of ritual in order to establish contract?”  
Lucy had to hold back her laughter at that. Honestly how did these people see mages? Did he think that she was trying to summon a demon or something?

“No, nothing like that. Celestial spirit mages summon their spirits through keys, there are two different types of keys: silver and gold. The silver ones are pretty common and can be found in magic shops if you’re lucky, but they aren’t very powerful usually. The gold ones are super rare though, there are only thirteen of them in existence, they represent the thirteen zodiac signs. Establishing contract is pretty easy you just ask what days they’re available and just like that you create a powerful bond with the spirit. The stronger your bond the stronger the spirit, as well as the general thing of the spirit being as powerful as the summoner themselves.” 

Talking about her magic brought a warmth to her eyes that didn’t go unnoticed by Aizawa. ‘She must be fond of her spirits’ he thought enjoying her happy expression as she continued to talk about the details of what her magic was and what each of her spirits could do. He found himself genuinely interested in what she had to say, the passion in her voice almost demanded attention that he didn’t mind giving her. 

“What happens if you lose your keys?” he asked her, he’d been wondering about it since she mentioned that she had to have the actual key in order to summon them. 

“That’s part of where the big problem lies with this magic. Since it’s a holder type of magic I need the keys with me pretty much all the time, if I were to lose them then I’m pretty much left defenseless. I guess that’s part of the reason why there aren’t really celestial mages anymore, it’s a magic that requires a lot of magic energy to use and some people see it as a high price low reward situation.”  


“You could try learning how to defend yourself or you could learn a new magic.” 

Lucy sighed getting a feeling of déjà vu from this situation. She really didn’t feel like explaining herself again, so she tried to keep it simple and to the point. “I don’t have anyone to train me and I don’t want to learn any new magic because I feel like I’m sort of betraying my spirits if that makes any sense.” 

“That’s such an irrational way of thinking though. You’re relying too much on your spirits to do the work if that’s the case. If you can’t even defend yourself how do you expect to defend anyone else?”

Lucy was finding that Shouta really knew how to make her feel like an idiot. She hated it but she hated it even more knowing that he was right.

Before she knew it, they were standing in the more adult section, looking at the shelf that held condoms, morning after pills, and lube. She blushed having never bought one before not knowing which of them she should buy as she stared at the shelf not knowing what to do. Shouta didn’t seem fazed about it though, looking on the back of the boxes before asking her which she thought sounded better. Lucy was about to answer when she couldn’t help but overhear a conversation that was going on behind them. The women behind her trying to whisper but failing miserably.

“Isn’t it a bit weird to be buying birth control with your dad?”

“What are you talking about? There’s no way he’s her dad they look nothing alike!” 

“Does that mean he’s her boyfriend or something?”

“He looks so old and frumpy though, why would she go for someone like him?”

“Maybe she just likes older men, she probably doesn’t have a good relationship with her dad. That’s how it usually is isn’t it?”

Lucy didn’t know whether to be embarrassed or annoyed. She knew Shouta looked a bit shabby, but she didn’t think he looked that old. Looking at him and examining his face for a second, she began to second guess herself.

“Ne, Shouta-kun.”

“Hm?”

“How old are you anyway?” 

“I’m 29.”

“Oh, ok.”

“How old are you?”

“19.”

“I see…”

They stood in awkward silence for a moment before Lucy grabbed a random morning after pill box off the shelf and putting it in the cart. They briskly made their way out of the aisle and quickly got to paying for everything. As they walked out of the store, bags in hand waiting for the crosswalk sign to change, Lucy looked at Shouta again taking a moment to properly examine his face again. Shouta noticed her staring feeling a bit annoyed by it.

“Is there something on my face?”

Lucy giggled at him before looking down and smiling. “No, I was just thinking about something.”

“What? That I look old or something?”

“No, I just think you look handsome Shouta-kun.” 

Aizawa didn’t know what to say to that. Of course, he’d heard what the two women had said, and it didn’t really bother him. He wasn’t trying to impress anyone with the way he looked so he was used to people telling him he looked worn out. It didn’t help that his quirk made his eyes drier than a desert in summer, but there wasn’t really anything he could do about that. What he wasn’t used to was being called handsome especially by someone so young. He grinned his wide toothed grin at her again just as the crosswalk changed.

“So, you’ve fallen for my rugged good looks, have you? If I didn’t know better, I’d say you were trying to flirt with me kitten.”

Lucy blushed at him using that nickname again, but she wasn’t going to let herself be the only being teased this time. Walking across the street ahead of him, Lucy mustered up all her bravery before she twirled around to face him, her skirt fluttering as she did. Standing on her tip toes she whispered in his ear,

“Maybe I am, daddy.” Lucy quickly turned back around trying to hide her beet red face and walked as fast as she could before he could react.

Aizawa was left speechless and for once he felt himself blush before getting an amused smirk on his face. He was right, she was going to be fun to keep around.


	6. Settlement

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lucy and Shouta go out and search for her belongings, Lucy gets teased more, and deals are made

Lucy and Aizawa made it back to his apartment, Aizawa looking smug while Lucy felt like she was ready to die of embarrassment at any moment. After their little teasing match at the crosswalk neither of them had said anything to each other but Lucy could practically feel the smugness that Aizawa seemed to radiate after she tried to tease him back. Her teasing was supposed to give him a taste of his own medicine, not encourage him further. 

They began to put away the groceries, Lucy opening one of the cupboards trying to put away one of the boxes of food only to find that the shelf was too high for her to reach. Standing up on her tip toes Lucy tried to reach it but having no such luck, feeling a body press up against her back and a hand taking the box of food away from her, placing it on the shelf with no problem at all. Looking up she met Shouta’s eyes which were looking very proud of himself.

“Let daddy help you with that.” Lucy shoved his face away, having an irritated blush on her face. “Cut it out it’s gross!”  
“Don’t start things that you don’t plan on finishing, besides if I remember correctly you didn’t seem to have a problem calling me that when I was- “  


“STOP IT!” Lucy covered her ears facing away from him trying to tune him out. _‘I didn’t call him daddy no way in hell I did. I’m not into that kind of thing, that’s so perverted, I would never call someone that!’ _Lucy’s head was spinning as she tried her best to forget about what happened that morning. But every time she did the images seemed to come back more vivid and vulgar than the last.  
__

__Growing up she was told to never talk about such things, her father was too busy trying to run his company to give her that talk. When she asked the servants about it, they were either too embarrassed to tell her or they only vaguely told her what entailed. She found out what it was really all about through romance novels that she found in the large library that she spent most of her time in growing up. It was completely by accident and she was left red faced and unable to look at anything the same way again. Despite how she may dress Lucy grew up in a rather conservative home that was made more restrictive by her father. So, when she finally got the taste of freedom that she always wanted she did everything she could to oppose how she used to live. Her clothes became more revealing and she tried to present herself as more sexual, but when it actually came down to doing it Lucy lost her confidence and receded into herself again._ _

____

____

Her first time had been…awkward, to say the least. Dressing up in a tight-fitting dress and high heels, she had gone out to do what she thought made her seem more edgy and cool by going out to a club that seemed to be popular in the area she was in. She managed to get in, no ID needed, her heavy makeup and developed body was enough to convince the bouncer she was old enough to enter. Sitting at the bar she tried her best to appear disinterested and cool when in reality she had never felt so nervous and wanted nothing more than to go home and hide under the covers. That was when a guy who looked just as awkward as she felt, made his way up to the bar. He clumsily ordered a drink and when he received it his hand was shaking violently before taking a sip and cringing at the taste. Lucy couldn’t help but feel bad for him as she went over to chat with him. They ended up at his place where he groped at her like a horny teenager, and sometimes not knowing what to do with his hands at all. After finishing, which didn’t take long, Lucy left him while he slept. Going home and taking the longest shower of her life, she got under the covers, holding herself and feeling sick to her stomach.  
Ever since then Lucy tried to avoid sex as much as she could and any time the topic was mentioned she either refused to listen or tried her best to change the subject. But now it almost seemed impossible since this was a man that she had literally done it with just that morning. Trying to change the subject she looked around the apartment until she spotted a really long scarf hanging on one of the hooks by the door. 

“What is that?”

“What?”

“That scarf by the door.”

“I think you just answered your own question.”

Lucy grew annoyed at his answer and it didn’t help that his facial expression hadn’t changed at all. “Why is it so long though? Plus, it doesn’t look like any scarf I’ve ever seen.”

“That’s because it’s not technically supposed to be for fashion, it was created for me to be able to apprehend villains among other things,” Aizawa said as he went over and grabbed the piece of cloth. 

“How does it work?” Lucy asked intrigued by how exactly he got it to move.

“To be honest I’m not entirely sure of that myself, but what I do know is that I can get it to move however I want when I activate my quirk. I’m the only one that can use it as far as I know, and it took me 6 years just to master how to use it.”

“That’s amazing! It kind of reminds me of my Fleuve d'étoiles.”

“Your what?”

“It’s my whip.”

“I knew you were a kinky- “

“THAT’S NOT WHAT IT’S FOR YOU PERVERT!” Lucy screamed elbowing him in the stomach rather harshly.

“Ow! How am I the pervert? You’re the one with the daddy kink and whip!” Shouta said rubbing at his hurt stomach.

“Oh, and what about your kitten fetish? Plus, who knows what kind of perverted things you’ve done with that scarf?!” Lucy screamed as they both now glared at each other, their arms crossed, and backs turned away from each other. Shouta gave a frustrated sigh pinching the bridge of his nose.

“Whatever let’s just go find your wallet so that you can go home already!”

“Fine.”

“Fine.”

And with that they both walked out the door Shouta slamming it closed behind him.

* * *

Lucy and Aizawa walked the streets of Musutafu in awkward silence. It had been 15 minutes since they’d left and neither of them had said anything to each other, instead choosing to walk along side each other in angry tension. That eventually gave way to just awkward tension the more time passed, and they asked each other for directions as to where the alley may have been. Lucy, growing tired of the silence decided to ask him some questions instead.

“So, you’re a hero then?”

“I guess so.”

“Aren’t heroes treated like celebrities around here though? How come you're not getting hounded by reporters and adoring fans?”

Shouta gave a small chuckle at that which he tried to hide, still trying to be angry at the blonde.  


“I’m not exactly a celebrity hero around here. I don’t like being on the news and I especially hate reporters. I’m more of an underground hero just trying to keep people safe and stay out of the public eye, that’s how I like it.”

“I can understand that. I’ve had my own run-ins with the press and fans alike it can get really tiring and overwhelming.”

“Are you considered a celebrity where you’re from?” Shouta asked cocking a brow at her.

“No, not really if anyone knows me it’s probably just because of my guild and my modeling days.”

“Oh, so you’re a model, what kind of modeling do you do hm?” Aizawa had that mischievous look in his eyes again and Lucy didn’t want to add anymore fuel to his perverted fire, so she decided to change the subject again.

“Um, so what exactly does your quirk do?” Lucy asked as she began sweating bullets from nervousness. She could practically see the devil horns protruding from Shouta’s head, clearly taking joy in watching her uncomfortably squirm. Then all at once he was back to his stoic self and she let out a breath of relief as he began to talk about his quirk.

“My quirk allows me to erase the quirks of anyone in my line of sight, that doesn’t include mutation quirks though.”

“That sounds really overpowered,” Lucy said as she began to imagine what she thought his quirk was like.

“Not really, one thing you have to remember about our powers is that all quirks have a weakness that can hurt the user if they’re not careful. Even though my quirk might sound really overpowered in its basic explanation there’s more to it than that. I’d actually say that my quirk has a lot more weaknesses than some. My quirk will immediately wear off once I blink which means I have to keep my eyes open for quite a while if I want to take down more powerful villains, it also means that if an enemy should figure out my weakness there’s quite a few things they could do to avoid getting hit with my quirk. They could avoid my line of vision, or they could force me to close my eyes in some way. I could get easily taken down if I just got sand in my eyes. It’s foolish to think that someone with a quirk like mine could ever be ‘overpowered’. If I were then maybe there would still be certain people here today.” Aizawa seemed to grow rather somber after he said this. 

Lucy noticed how distant his eyes grew as if he was remembering something, she didn’t want to pry into his personal life too much, especially if he wasn’t ready to talk about it, so she left it at that. Besides, they had finally made it to the spot where she was beaten up anyway. Looking around the alley they tried to find any traces of Lucy’s belongings, at first not finding much before she noticed a dirty pile of what they thought was nothing more than trash but upon closer inspection, surely enough it was her stuff. Letting out a sigh of relief finding not only her clothes but also her wallet and whip. Opening up the wallet any relief she may have had left as the only thing that was inside was a note, on it written in scratchy handwriting it said:

_To the bimbo who blasted me away,  
Consider yourself lucky if you manage to find any of this  
As compensation for my injuries, I’ll be taking your money and panties as payment  
Good luck ___

__Lucy wanted to scream after reading the note. Not only had that brat gotten her turned into a cat, gets his minions to help beat her up, but then they go and steal her money and underwear! Shouta took the note from her and inspected it as Lucy’s body shook with anger and frustration. How was she supposed to get home now? The money that she got from the mission was barely enough to pay for the transportation to get home. Even if she did manage to find a way to get back to crocus, it left her without any money to even buy food. Lucy wanted to just slam her head against the nearest wall and ball her eyes out afterward. But she’d cried enough already that day, she didn’t want to give the kid the satisfaction of even slightly thinking that he’d broken her.  
__

__Aizawa could clearly see how distressed she was, anyone would be if they were in her situation, but he knew that there probably wasn’t much that he could do. He could ask her to give a description of what the kid looked like and one of the heroes would probably eventually find him and they’d maybe be sent to juvey but there was no guarantee of that either. Shouta placed an arm around her shoulder awkwardly rubbing his hand up and down her arm in an attempt to comfort her._ _

__“What am I supposed to do now? I can’t go home; I don’t have anywhere to stay, and I can’t even pay for food or a hotel now. Why does the world hate me so much?”_ _

__“It’s illogical to think like that right now, the world doesn’t hate you, you’re just having an off day, if it really did hate you than you wouldn’t be even standing here right now.”_ _

__Lucy wanted to punch him right now, she had just gone through a series of unfortunate events that’s left her stuck in a different country with no means of getting back home and that’s the best he could say to her? Shouta pulled her along as they began walking back to his apartment. Along the way Shouta thought about how he could help Lucy in her predicament. There probably weren’t going to be many agencies willing to help a mage and he didn’t feel like asking his prying friends for help. No doubt they’d never let him live it off if they found out that not only was he trying to help a mage but that’d he’d also slept with and gone shopping for emergency contraception with within the span of 24 hours._ _

__He cursed his heroic tendencies as an idea came to mind once they finally got to his apartment, both stepping inside followed by a moment of silence. Lucy took a seat on his couch, the worried look on her face hadn’t left and Shouta was getting tired of feeling bad for her every time he saw it. Sitting down next to her on the couch he got ready to tell her his plan._ _

__“Look how about we make a deal?”_ _

__“A deal?” Lucy’s voice was still sad, but her eyes were now curious at his request._ _

__“I’ll let you live in my apartment rent free until you can get back on your feet. All you have to do is just make things easier for me, you know, cooking, cleaning, laundry that kind of thing.” Aizawa was almost prepared for her to say no, it wasn’t unreasonable for him to think that she wouldn’t want to stay with a man she barely knew even if they had done quite a bit today with each other, that didn’t necessarily mean she trusted him._ _

__“So, you want me to be your housewife and you’ll pay me for it?” Lucy said with an almost too straight face._ _

__If Aizawa had been drinking something he probably would have choked, but instead he replied to her with the same blank stare that he was known for.  
“If that’s how you wanna see it, sure. Just help me to de-stress a bit, okay kid? Hero work isn’t exactly easy you know.”  
__

__Lucy pondered it for a second. It wasn’t like she had a whole lot of options right now and this guy didn’t seem too bad, he was a hero after all. Plus, it wasn’t a bad deal all things considered. Nodding her head, she gave him a small smile before asking him one last question._ _

__“How much am I getting paid?”_ _

__“Depends on how much work you do and how de-stressed I am by the end of the day. But I’ll try to pay you around what I think is 800 jewel a day.”_ _

__Lucy thought about it for a moment, if he paid her 800 a day and she stayed for a week that wasn’t going to be enough to cover the transportation plus rent so she decided to bargain a bit.  
“Make it 1,000 jewel a day and I’ll do more than just clean.”_ _

__“Like what?”_ _

__Lucy shrugged, “Whatever you want, but I still reserve the right to say no if I think it’s too much.”  
Aizawa smirked, the wording tickling his fancy as his imagination ran wild thinking of what he wanted her to do for him. He wasn’t going to do anything she wasn’t comfortable with though; he wasn’t some kind of sick predator._ _

__“You got yourself a deal kitten. I look forward to working with you.”_ _

__They shook hands and Lucy noticed just how rough his fingers were. It triggered another memory from that morning, not vulgar like the rest but gentle instead. The memory of him holding her so intimately and the kiss they’d shared during. Lucy blushed remembering that, quickly drawing back her hand. Aizawa gave her a curious look but upon seeing her blush gave a quiet laugh at her dirty mind.  
  
__

__“I guess we should get started on dinner then, right?” Lucy quickly got off the couch and headed towards the kitchen thinking about what to make before her mind headed to worse places.  
Aizawa looked at the clock seeing it was 7:30 pm already, a bit earlier than when he’d usually eat dinner, but he was hungry considering the only thing he’d eaten that day was what she’d made for breakfast/lunch. Getting up he went to go and help her with the preparations and getting anything down that she couldn’t reach. As they began cooking Lucy remembered just how small the apartment was after noticing the kitchen barely had enough room to let the two of them walk. It made her wonder.  
_ _

__“Um, Shouta-kun?”  
_ _

__“Hm?”  
__

____

__

__“Where am I going to sleep?”_  
_

__Aizawa grinned at her and she felt nervous again, “You already know the answer to that, kitten.”_ _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry, its been a while since I've updated. School has been keeping me busy among other things but I'll try to get a chapter out every weekend if I can at the least. More people have read this story and it makes me so happy! Thank you so much for reading, leaving kudos and bookmarking, I can't thank you enough!


	7. Acceptance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aizawa runs into a friend and Lucy stays home. Relationships develop and peace is found.

The buzzing of the alarm brought Shouta out of his peaceful slumber and made him want to murder whoever thought the alarm was a good invention. He reached over and smacked his phone off the nightstand not caring as it fell to the floor with a slight thump. Aizawa dropped his arm off to the side lazily, hoping to get a few more minutes of sleep before he had to leave, only to be met with a warm lump beside him. In his tired state he almost panicked until he remembered all that had occurred the day before. Looking over at the woman beside him he took in her appearance. Her face was buried in the pillow (which he managed to find after digging in his closet for a few minutes), blonde hair was frizzed and messy, the shirt she was wearing had ridden up a bit exposing her shorts and some of her back, which is what his hand had made contact with. Shouta heard as she groaned before murmuring something that he couldn’t quite hear. _Does she talk in her sleep? _  
__

__“Shouta…please.”  
_ _

__Now his interest was piqued. He leaned over closer to her trying to understand what she was saying, especially if it involved him. Again, she called out his name quietly followed by a soft moan. He blushed, his mind immediately thinking that she must be having some kind of wet dream involving him. Her brow furrowed and she called out for him louder this time. A devilish smirk crossed his face as he decided to see what would happen if he spoke to her.  
_ _

__“Shouta.”  
_ _

__“What is it kitten?”  
_ _

__“You’re crushing my arm, please get off.”  
_ _

__Shouta could practically hear a record scratch as he realized that there was, in fact, a slight lump under his back that he hadn’t noticed until now. He muttered an apology as he lifted himself up from her now slightly red arm and laid back down. Lucy pulled her arm away, shifting onto her back and rubbing at her numb appendage. She sucked in a breath before opening her eyes and looking at the man next to her. He didn’t look much different than how he had looked the last couple of days, probably because she didn’t think he bothered to do anything with his appearance in between waking up and going out.  
_ _

__“Hi,” She said to him after several moments of not saying anything to each other, both had just been staring at the ceiling for a while.  
_ _

__“Hi,” his voice was gravellier than usual if that was even possible. Again, they both fell into comfortable silence until Lucy noticed his breath had evened out, only to find that he had fallen back asleep. Lucy decided to not waste anymore time and got out of bed trying not to disturb the sleeping man before making her way to the bathroom. She quickly got ready for the day, braiding her hair and putting on a simple shirt and shorts combo since she didn’t think she'd be going out that day. Stepping out she decided to start on breakfast while she waited for him to get ready.  
_ _

__She had just gotten the food on the table when Shouta finally stepped into the kitchen. He was wearing what looked like a plain black jumpsuit with a utility belt and yellow goggles around his neck. What bothered her though was the fact that he hadn’t done anything to his hair at all. It was long and messy and jutted out in a few places; it made her wonder why he bothered having long hair if he wasn’t going to do something with it.  
_ _

__Shouta noticed her intense stare at him since he had sat down to eat. Shouta wasn’t a morning person and there was only so much he could deal with before he grew irritated and wanted to leave back to bed. This was one of those things. Her stare hadn’t left him, looking at him over her coffee cup as she drank from it and at that point he had enough and called her out on it.  
_ _

__“What?” his voice came out louder than he expected as she startled a bit once he spoke.  
_ _

__“Why don’t you do something with your hair?”  
_ _

__“What for?”  
_ _

__“Wouldn’t it not be as bothersome if you did something with it? Plus, it might make you look more approachable, you know since you’re a hero and all, people might be too off-put to ask you for help.”  
_ _

__“Then it probably isn’t that serious if they can’t ask someone for help just because they look a certain way. I don’t really care how people see me, so I think it’s illogical to bother wasting time on my appearance.”  
_ _

__“For someone so driven by logic I’d say that your hair was a pretty illogical decision. If you don’t want to waste time on your appearance why don’t you just cut your hair? It’d save you a lot of time and effort if you did that plus, it’d be easier to maintain and you wouldn’t have to worry about it getting in your face since you said your quirk has to do with your eyes.”  
_ _

__Aizawa sighed in frustration but thought about her words. It was true what she had said, and he had thought about getting a haircut before in the past but never went through with it. In his youth he always had long hair that his parents would sometimes cut, but once he reached his teens, they stopped cutting it for him, and he was too lazy to go out and get it cut. Now that he was an adult, he used the same excuse that he had as a teen, but even he knew that wasn’t all true. Despite how he preferred making logical decisions, he had to admit that a big reason why he didn’t cut his hair was nothing more than just the fact that he liked it. Aizawa just shrugged as he continued eating his breakfast, wanting to just drop the conversation already.  
_ _

__“Can I at least brush it for you then?”  
_ _

__“No.”  
_ _

__“Aw, come on please Shouta-kun, I promise it won’t take long and it’ll probably help just a little bit, you never know.”  
_ _

__Shouta wanted to say no. Not since his younger years had he allowed anyone to touch his hair and he was planning on keeping it that way. But seeing the blonde pouting like she was, made him decide otherwise. “Fine, but you better not start braiding it or putting flowers in it or I will kick you out.”  
“Yay,” Lucy happily clapped as she finished eating and Aizawa just hoped she wasn’t going to rip his hair out.  
_ _

__After placing their dishes in the sink Aizawa sat on the couch as Lucy went to go get a hairbrush from the bathroom. He didn’t know what to expect from this, really the only thing he wanted was for his scalp to remain in one piece. Lucy got back, brush in hand excitedly sitting down on the couch before asking him to sit down in front of her. Shouta reluctantly went to sit on the floor, placing himself between her thighs. Lucy started on her process of brushing Shouta’s hair, as expected it was so tangled to heck, that she was surprised she even managed to get the brush through his hair at all, but she did her best not to hurt him. A few gentle tugs later and she managed to get his hair completely tangle free, Aizawa had actually leaned into her with his eyes closed. As soon as the brush began smoothly running through his dark locks, he found himself enjoying the situation. The feeling of the brush gently running against his scalp, the coolness and the softness of her thighs, and her gentle humming had begun to lull him to sleep. He was about to fall back to sleep when she suddenly stopped brushing his hair and poked his cheek.  
_ _

__“Shouta-kun.”  
_ _

__“Hm?”  
_ _

__“What time are you supposed to leave?”  
_ _

__“8:00.”  
_ _

__Lucy looked at the clock, “It’s 7:35.”  
_ _

__Shouta's eyes shot open as he quickly picked himself off the floor and grabbed his capture weapon off the hook, wrapping it around his neck. He grabbed the door handle looking back over his shoulder at her.  
_ _

__“I’m leaving now, if I’m not back by 11 assume I’ve died.”  
_ _

__“What?”  
_ _

__“Bye.” With that he shut the door behind him and took off towards his agency leaving Lucy confused, hairbrush in hand staring at the now closed door.  
_ _

* * *

__  
_ _

Aizawa walked along the street keeping an eye out for any possible villain activity around. Although it was kind of hard with him being constantly tired and his thoughts heading back to a certain blonde in his apartment. He felt bad for her honestly, not just because of all the misfortunes that had happened to her since she got here but because she had to be cooped up in his apartment all day. Aizawa knew how little there was in his apartment compared to other people, but that was just how he liked it. He didn’t see the point of having a bunch of useless decorations around his place. He didn’t even have a tv, he didn’t see any reason to have one since he was almost never home, and he got all his news info from his phone or public tv’s that he happened to watch while he was patrolling. Though now he wished that he had one since he knew that eventually she would get done with cleaning and cooking and be left with nothing to do.  


He chuckled at the thought of her rolling around on the floor in boredom at his apartment. He at least had some books at his place, not that he knew if she even liked reading or not. Even if she did would she even like the books he had? The books he had were mostly nonfiction anyway, books on things he thought he needed to know or could make his life easier. Not exactly enjoyable reading material for a nineteen-year-old. He was thinking about what he could get her so that she wasn’t bored when he was thrown out of his thoughts by someone slinging their arm around his shoulder.  


“Eraser! It’s been too long! How’ve you been buddy?!”  


Aizawa’s ear felt like it was ringing from being blown out by his childhood friend’s voice. Great. He could already feel a migraine coming on, it wasn’t that he hated his friend but just his presence alone could be tiring.  


“Mic, get off.” Shouta groaned removing Hizashi’s arm from him.  


“Aw, cold as ever Eraser, no sympathy at all for your longtime friend.” Hizashi looked at the brunette over his sunglasses his interest peaking as he took in his friend’s appearance.  


“Ohoho, you actually took the time to brush your hair today Shouta? What’s the occasion? I haven’t seen you with your hair this neat since 3rd year prom!” Hizashi exclaimed as he spun around Aizawa examining every inch of his friend’s hair.  


Aizawa felt a tick mark on his forehead, he ignored his friends questioning as he continued walking, hoping to put an end to this conversation. His friend wasn’t about to let up so easily, however. Mic quickly caught up with Shouta, leaning over as he walked trying to get an answer out of the erasing hero.  


“If it’s not because your going somewhere, then could it be someone? You ended our phone call so abruptly last time Shouta! Could it be that you’ve found yourself a lady? I thought I heard something in the background before you hung up- “  


“Don’t you have to get back to patrolling? We’re still on duty remember?”  


“It’s a man then?”  


“No!”  


“So, you admit that there’s a person?”  


“Get back to work Mic!”  


Aizawa picked up his pace until he was ahead of the blonde, not wanting to deal with his friends’ interrogation any longer. Hizashi just smirked from where he was standing, watching as Shouta walked away, even though his face remained stoic as ever, Hizashi knew that his friend was probably fuming on the inside.  


“Fine, keep your secrets. But Eraser.”  


“What?”  


“You might wanna remove that blonde hair from your head, people might think you’re getting old.”  


Aizawa paused, cursing under his breath. Lucy must have been using her own hairbrush when she combed his hair that morning. Hizashi came over and plucked the loose strand of blonde hair from Shouta’s black locks. He had a smug look on his face as he held it up in front of Shouta’s face like a strange trophy. Aizawa swatted his hand away from his face, he knew he couldn’t lie to his friend and say something like the hair was Hizashi’s. For one the hair wasn’t nearly long enough and two he knew that Mic’s hair was practically glued onto his head with how much gel, hairspray, and force of will alone that it took to keep it held up.  


“Are you gonna tell me who it is then?”  


“Not today Mic, we have work to do.” Aizawa sighed as he took off, not sparing his friend a second glance.  


Hizashi pouted but felt a sense of pride well up within him. Even if Shouta hadn’t outright said he was seeing someone, he had basically admitted to it and would possibly tell him about it one day. He felt happy for his friend, knowing that he was possibly finally getting out and finding a romantic companion to spend his time with. Not even back at UA had Aizawa been particularly interested in dating. He always claimed that it would just get in the way of his class work, and that especially carried on even more intensely after _his _death. Only recently had he gotten traces of his old friend back, they spent time together on occasion and Shouta was as sarcastically witty and as easy to talk to as a brick wall as ever, but he was back for the most part.  
__

____

____

Hizashi whistled as he walked away in the opposite direction. He just hoped that whoever it was that had captured his friend’s heart was a good person. A good person that could help Shouta for the better, and maybe get him to open up a bit more. A smile spread across his face as he imagined what he thought Aizawa’s mystery girlfriend might be like, he imagined Shouta living the domesticated life with a wife and two kids that looked exactly like him, living in a small house with a white picket fence and perfectly trimmed green lawn. He snorted at the thought of his friend becoming a domesticated husband with perfectly combed slicked back hair, shaved face, and an infomercial smile spread across his face. His laugh rang out surprising a few bystanders to which he apologized for. He crossed his arms behind his back as he got back to patrolling. Shouta’s girlfriend was a blonde too, so she must not be that bad.  


* * *

Lucy rolled around on the ground in Shouta’s apartment, bored out of her mind as she tried to find something to do. There was almost nothing in his apartment so cleaning took less time than it would in her own apartment. It was only 6:00 so she decided not to start on dinner yet, she’d already eaten lunch and had a small nap but now she was left with a lot of energy and no way to release it. She didn’t want to snoop around someone else’s apartment, but at this point she would do anything if it meant alleviating her boredom. She walked around the whole apartment for the fifth time that day and by this point she was sure that she had memorized the whole layout like the back of her hand. The first room was the living room/kitchen, it was connected to a hallway that had two rooms, a bathroom/laundry room and a bedroom. He had a closet by the front door which had three coats, all were black but seemed to have a purpose for whatever the weather was like. A thick winter coat, a light hoodie, and a semi casual raincoat. He had two pairs of shoes, a pair of slip on boots and a pair of white sneakers, surprisingly.  


She snooped around the drawers of his dresser but found that most of them were either empty or not filled with anything interesting. She did find a pair of glasses in his nightstand, which made her wonder if he wore contacts usually since she hadn’t seen him wearing them, but upon trying them on herself she found that they were nonprescription, which just made her wonder more as to why he had them. His closet was probably the messiest thing in the house and was really the only sign that this man was actually human and not some fungus that only required the bare minimum to live. In his closet some dirty shirts and pants were randomly thrown in a pile along with other miscellaneous things. There were two things in the closet which surprised her the most; one was a pair of bright pink sweatpants that stood out like a sore thumb in his achromatic closet and she couldn’t help but let out a giggle when she found them. One reason being the thought of him wearing them and the other being that she was pretty sure she owned the same pair in her own wardrobe.  


The other thing that surprised her was the suit in the far back of the closet, it was inside a plastic bag and had a thin layer of dust covering it. The suit itself was quite nice, black with a white dress shirt and blue striped tie. A blush came to her cheeks as she thought of him wearing it, a clean-cut look that opposed how he usually displayed himself, a clean shave and his hair tied back. She felt her heart-rate quicken thinking of him like that, talking with his commanding voice that could no doubt draw attention from a whole room. But she found herself thinking of something completely different as well, the chime of bells, the sweet scent of flowers, and the laughter and cheers of family and friends. Seeing him standing at the end of the aisle a smile on his face that wasn’t off putting, but was instead gentle, almost proud. Finally, a pure white dress, a long veil and a bouquet of roses, vows are exchanged, they lean in and- _‘NONONONO. What are you thinking Lucy?! This is literally a man you just met who you know almost nothing about, but the thought of him in a suit and you’re ready to exchange vows? What kind of a person am I?’ _Lucy smacked her head against the wall before returning the suit to the back of the closet and picking up the pile of dirty clothes to wash them.  
__

__Lucy sat on the floor of the bathroom her back against the rumbling washing machine and Plue sat in her lap. She decided to call out the spirit to keep her company while she waited. Surprisingly, this place had plenty of ethernano, probably more than the whole of Ishgar if she was guessing. Maybe it was because nobody here used magic that the amount of ethernano was double than where she lived. Getting up she went back to Shouta’s room to see if there was anything else to distract her from the fact that time seemed to pass like molasses. She looked at his bookshelf at the selection of books he had; _How Not to Die, I’m Going to Die, Wilderness Survival for Dummies, Life Sucks, 101 Ways to Fall Asleep Anywhere. _She sweat dropped at some of the names. This guy probably didn’t read for fun, more so he read because he actually wanted to learn something. But she noticed that there was a book at the very bottom of the shelf, it was black and didn’t have a title but had thick pages that made the book seem bigger.  
____

__

__

____

__

____

__

____

__

____

__

____

___Opening it, she had to choke back a laugh at what she saw. It was a photo album, probably given to him by his parents judging by the fact that one of the first pictures was of him as a baby. The picture had him at 3 months old (at least according to the caption underneath the photo) laying on his stomach wearing blue overalls with a blue striped shirt underneath, he was sucking on a red cat pacifier and his large dark eyes stared up at the camera. A soft smile crept across her face as she looked through the pictures particularly when she came across a photo of him with his parents. Toddler Shouta was being held by his mother while his father stood to the side of her. He looked exactly like his father with the exception of his hair, his father had short buzzcut hair that was starting to grey, and wire framed glasses brought out his hard, black eyes. His mother looked tired but happy, she had long wavy black hair, much like how Shouta’s was now, and soft golden eyes. Flipping through it she found a picture of him on his first day of school, his hair was longer now, and he wore a grey uniform jacket with green dress pants, looking at the camera begrudgingly. It made her giggle knowing that Aizawa seemed to have had that tired grumpy look on his face his entire life. The next photo piqued her interest as the caption had a familiar name written on it. The photo had Shouta surrounded by a group of people all wearing the same uniform looking excitedly at the camera with the exception of Shouta. To the left of him there was a girl with short black hair and blue eyes, to the right of him stood two boys one had blonde hair styled upward and wore triangular orange tinted glasses, the final boy had blueish white hair and a bandage over his nose. Looking over the names she figured out that the girl was named Nemuri and the blonde-haired boy was Hizashi while the white-haired boy was Oboro. That meant that Shouta did at least have one friend that he kept from school.  
_ _ _

____

___Her snooping came to a halt when the ding of the washing machine forced her to put the book back in its place as she went to go tend to the clothes. By the time they got done drying it was already 10:00 and Lucy decided to start on dinner. She put a salmon in the oven while she started on the rice and salad. It wasn’t the first time that she had to cook for more than herself since her friends would often be at her place by the time she got home, with many of them staying for dinner before they either left or slept at her apartment. Luckily, everything managed to get done by the time Shouta stumbled through the door, kicking off his boots looking worse for wear. He grumbled out a greeting to her before walking towards the bathroom and going to his room to change out of his hero attire. When he came back, he was wearing a pair of black sweatpants and a long sleeve black shirt, some of his hair was tied back while the rest fell loose. He sat down and Lucy placed a plate of food in front of him, he thanked her before he began digging in.  
_ _ _

____

___“So how was work?” Lucy asked him, taking a sip of water.  
_ _ _

____

___“It was fine, the usual petty criminals that were easy to take down. The only remarkable thing was a bank robber that decided to put up a fight, even without his quirk he refused to give up. So annoying, those kinds of villains always give me a headache.”  
_ _ _

____

___“Are you okay? You aren’t hurt are you?”  
_ _ _

____

___“A little bit it’s really not that serious, I’ve been through worse before.”  
_ _ _

____

___“Where? We should tend to your injuries even if you don’t think they’re that serious.”  
_ _ _

____

___“You don’t need to worry yourself with doing that it’s just a few scratches here and there.”  
_ _ _

____

___“No, even the smallest of cuts could lead to worse injuries or an infection if they’re not tended to. Please let me dress your wounds Shouta-kun.”  
_ _ _

____

___Shouta sighed, he didn’t want to start an argument with her when he had such a bad headache, but he wasn’t about to just let her have her way completely.  
_ _ _

____

___“I’ll tell you what, you can treat my wounds on the condition that you have to do something that I decide afterward.”  
_ _ _

____

___Lucy pondered it for a moment. There was no way Shouta was going to make her do anything embarrassing right off the bat, right? Besides, it was late so it was likely she wouldn’t have to go out and do something.  
_ _ _

____

___“Alright, deal.”  
_ _ _

____

___They both got back to eating and were halfway through the meal when Shouta felt something bump against his leg. Looking down he almost fell out of his chair when he saw the weird snowman looking creature looking up at him. Lucy startled when Shouta’s body suddenly jolted up.  
_ _ _

____

___“What the hell is that thing?”  
_ _ _

____

___“What thing?”  
___

____

___“ _That. _”  
_ _ _ _ _

____

___Looking down Lucy let out a sigh of relief when she saw that it was just Plue, now shying away from the man who had scared it just as much as it scared him. Lucy went to pick up Plue in her arms who nervously shook against her.  
_ _ _

____

___“This is Plue, he’s my celestial spirit.”  
_ _ _

____

___“What’s it supposed to be?”  
_ _ _

____

___“A dog.”  
_ _ _

____

___Aizawa let out a snort. “If that’s a dog then I’m a shoelace. What’s it actually supposed to be?”  
_ _ _

____

__“It _is _a dog!”  
____

__

__

______ _ _

___“No, it’s not!”  
_ _ _

______ _ _

___“I'm not arguing over this with you!”  
_ _ _

______ _ _

___“Fine! Let's just drop it then!”  
_ _ _

______ _ _

___“Fine!”  
_ _ _

______ _ _

___Silence fell over them as Lucy pouted angrily holding a still shaking Plue in her arms. She'd already finished her dinner and was just awkwardly waiting for Shouta who seemed to be taking his time eating. Looking over at him he gave her a blank stare as he lifted the cup of water to his mouth and very audibly slurped the liquid with an unchanging expression. Lucy's eye twitched at his actions and Aizawa had to hold back a smirk at her reaction. He lifted the food to his mouth as slowly as he could before chewing it somehow even slower than before. Lucy's grip tightened on Plue as the creature started to wriggle in her grasp. Once again Shouta lifted the glass to his mouth and started slurping when the celestial mage could take it no more.  
_ _ _

______ _ _

___“Stop that!”  
_ _ _

______ _ _

___Shouta had to keep himself from choking on his water from laughing. “Stop what, kitten?”  
_ _ _

______ _ _

___“Now I know you were doing it on purpose!”  
_ _ _

______ _ _

___“Doing what on purpose?” Shouta rested his chin on his hand looking smugly at the irritated blonde.  
_ _ _

______ _ _

___“No! I refuse to be teased by a man who owns pink sweatpants!”  
_ _ _

______ _ _

___Shouta's smug expression changed into one of surprise and then angry embarrassment.  
_ _ _

______ _ _

___“You went through my things?”  
_ _ _

______ _ _

___Lucy blushed, feeling embarrassed at her unintentional confession of guilt. She waved her hands in front of her face trying to explain herself even though she knew she’d been caught red-handed.  
_ _ _

______ _ _

___“I-It’s not like that! I was just bored, and I was looking for your clothes to wash them! I-I’m sorry I didn’t mean to…”  
_ _ _

______ _ _

___Truthfully Aizawa didn’t actually care that she looked through his things. If anything, he expected it, what with her being cooped up in the apartment all day. But he wasn’t going to tell her that, not yet anyway. Not until he had some fun first. He watched her with an amused expression as she apologized profusely, red faced and frantic. The “dog” that she’d summoned had disappeared to who knows where and by now he’d finished his food. He decided to scare her a bit, so putting on a serious face he stood up abruptly, causing her to let out a squeak of surprise.  
_ _ _

______ _ _

___“I’m disappointed in you Lucy. I let you into my home, feed you, take care of you, and offer to give you money to get home. The only thing I asked was for you to do a bit of cleaning around the house and this is the thanks I get?”  
_ _ _

______ _ _

___Lucy looked down at her lap, trembling and feeling a mix of fear and shame. In a weird way, hearing him say her name only further escalated her fears, like she understood that he was being serious now. Shouta was probably going to kick her out now as thoughts flooded her head of her having to fend for herself on the streets. She felt like she was on the verge of tears as Shouta made his way over to her.  
_ _ _

______ _ _

___“I can’t just let this slide; I’m going to have to punish you now.”  
_ _ _

______ _ _

___Lucy saw as Shouta lifted his hand; she squeezed her eyes shut as she braced herself for some kind of impact.  
___

______ _ _

____*FWIP*_ ___

________ _ _ _ _

___“Ow!”  
_ _ _

________ _ _ _ _

___Lucy touched her now slightly hurt forehead. He’d flicked her. He’d flicked her right on the forehead. Shouta just looked at her smugly before turning around and walking off towards the hall.  
_ _ _

________ _ _ _ _

___“Alright punishment over, I’ll get the first aid kit.”  
_ _ _

________ _ _ _ _

___Lucy sat stunned at what just happened. Fear and embarrassment was replaced with anger and frustration. She felt herself still trembling as frustrated tears ran down her cheeks.  
_ _ _

________ _ _ _ _

___“Y-you sadist.”  
_ _ _

________ _ _ _ _

___Shouta stopped, looking back at her. Her head was down so he couldn’t see her face, but he heard her let out a tiny sniffle. A feeling of guilt rose within his chest as he rushed over to her placing his hands on her shoulders.  
_ _ _

________ _ _ _ _

___“Are you okay? What’s wrong?”  
_ _ _

________ _ _ _ _

___“What do you mean what’s wrong?! How could you just scare me like that?!”  
_ _ _

________ _ _ _ _

___Lucy got out of his grasp and tried to walk away but was caught by Shouta who pulled her against his chest. He held her in place, one hand rested on the back of her head while the other rubbed at her back. Even though Lucy wanted to walk away out of frustration she knew that she didn’t exactly have a lot of options to go to if she wanted privacy in the apartment. Instead she leaned into his chest and let out her angry tears against him, wetting his shirt in the process.  
_ _ _

________ _ _ _ _

___“Listen, I’m sorry kid. I admit, I was just trying to mess with you, and I took it a bit too far.”  
_ _ _

________ _ _ _ _

___“I thought you were gonna kick me out!”  
_ _ _

________ _ _ _ _

___“Kick you out? Why would I kick you out? Who else am I gonna get to be my cute little maid if I kicked you out?”  
_ _ _

________ _ _ _ _

___Lucy looked up at him. He was a good head taller than her and for a moment she wondered if this was how Levy felt with Gajeel. She wanted to smack him for scaring her as bad as he did but she suddenly felt drained and wanted nothing more than to go to bed.  
_ _ _

________ _ _ _ _

___“You’re really awful Shouta-kun. I hate you a lot.”  
_ _ _

________ _ _ _ _

___Aizawa just chuckled at her, resting his chin on her head as he rocked them back and forth absent mindedly. She felt so small to him, so soft and warm like a cat. It made him wonder if she ever truly stopped being a cat after she transformed. It didn’t matter to him what her shape was, the only thing he found himself wanting was to take care of her, even if that care was covered in a thick layer of teasing on his part. It was strange and illogical, but it felt nice. It felt warm. It felt like home more than his apartment ever had.  
_ _ _

________ _ _ _ _

___“Yeah, I like you too, kitten.”_ _ _

________ _ _ _ _

_____ _

________ _ _ _ _

_____ _

________ _ _ _ _

A moment passed of him just holding her, enjoying the way she felt and the smell of her shampoo before Lucy spoke up. 

________ _ _ _ _

“Shouta-kun.” 

________ _ _ _ _

“What is it kitten?” 

________ _ _ _ _

“Why _do _you own a pair of pink sweatpants?”__

________ _ _ _ _

__“I accidentally stole them from a friend, but they were so comfortable I forgot to give them back.”_ _

________ _ _ _ _

__Lucy giggled against him now liking the feeling of his arms around her and the slightly scratchy feeling of his facial hair on her forehead. Pulling away from him she wiped a final tear from her eye before giving him a cheerful smile._ _

________ _ _ _ _

__“Let’s go treat your wounds now Shouta-kun.” She chirped_ _

________ _ _ _ _

' _She sure does bounce back _’ Aizawa thought to himself before retrieving the first aid from the bathroom and bringing it into the bedroom.__

________ _ _ _ _

___“Where were you injured?” Lucy asked him, taking the first aid from him._ _ _

________ _ _ _ _

___“It was mostly along my arms and back, but like I said it’s not that bad.”_ _ _

________ _ _ _ _

___"Oh hush, now please take off your shirt.”_ _ _

________ _ _ _ _

___“Eager, aren’t you kitten?”_ _ _

________ _ _ _ _

___“Now is not the time!”_ _ _

________ _ _ _ _

___Shouta took off his shirt revealing his upper body to her. Lucy probably would’ve blushed if it weren’t for the fact that his torso was littered with bruises and cuts, some were small while others looked far worse._ _ _

________ _ _ _ _

___“I thought you said it wasn’t that bad!”_ _ _

________ _ _ _ _

___“It isn’t! Don’t be so dramatic and could you please keep your voice down? I have a headache remember?”_ _ _

________ _ _ _ _

___Lucy quickly grabbed the antiseptic and bandages as she began working on the larger cuts first. Aizawa hissed as she dabbed it on with a cotton ball, Lucy apologizing as she continued to work. As she tended to him Shouta thought about the events of the day. Specifically, what Hizashi had told him while patrolling. _'Found himself a lady’ _even though that is what literally happened. He _had _found a lady, intentionally or not, and here she was. Tending to his wounds after she had spent the day cleaning and cooking for him. Like how a stay at home wife would. He wanted to smack himself. He’d never been in a relationship before. Not a romantic one anyway. He’d found himself enjoying the company of others here and there in the past but none of them he would have ever in a million years thought of marrying. But what was this relationship? Were they friends? Acquaintances? Friends with benefits? Or was she just his maid now? What did he even want from this? He barely registered as Lucy finished placing the final bandage on his back, cheerfully exclaiming that she was done. He didn’t say anything as he just turned back around and looked at her. Her cheerful expression changed into one of confusion and slight concern as she asked him what was wrong._ _ _ ____

________ _ _ _ _

___“You still have to do something for me. Remember?”_ _ _

________ _ _ _ _

___“Oh, yeah, I forgot. So, what’s it gonna be then?”_ _ _

________ _ _ _ _

___“Close your eyes.”_ _ _

________ _ _ _ _

___Lucy felt her heart skip a beat. He wasn’t possibly about to do what she thought he was about to do, right? She’d read about scenarios like this. Where the guy asks the girl to close her eyes before kissing her. She didn’t think something like that would ever happen in real life though. Nervously she closed her eyes feeling exposed, but she heard no sound coming from him. She slightly jumped at the feeling of his rough calloused hand against her cheek. Feeling his breath lightly fan against her face her heart felt ready to explode._ _ _

________ _ _ _ _

___Then it came, the feeling of his lips pressed against hers. Neither of them moved for a moment just sitting with their lips against each other’s before she shyly moved her mouth against his. Shouta ran his fingers through her hair as the kiss deepened. Her lips were soft like the rest of her and tasted like honey to him. Lucy gripped his arm careful not to touch one of his injuries. To her everything about him was rough and hard. From his chapped lips to his untamed facial hair, his body that felt like more muscle than fat, and his rough hands that ran across her body pulling her close. Her head felt like it was swimming and she wanted nothing more than to drown within him._ _ _

________ _ _ _ _

___They pulled apart, the need to breathe becoming too much for them eventually. The sound of their heavy breathing filled the room and they rested their foreheads against each other’s. Once they regained their breathing Lucy’s face turned bright red as she pulled away from him._ _ _

________ _ _ _ _

___“S-Shouta-kun. Wha- “_ _ _

________ _ _ _ _

___Lucy didn’t get to finish her sentence before he was on her again. His lips moved against hers as he sucked on her tongue, he pushed her backward so that her back was flat against the mattress. Despite her confusion Lucy made no move to stop him, instead she kissed him back running her fingers down his spine. He let out groan into her mouth shifting his leg so that his knee pressed between her legs. Lucy let out a small noise, excitement building within her, but her mind tried to reason with her. It wasn’t until Shouta went to remove her shirt that she put a stop to it. Pulling away from him she gripped his wrist before he could remove her shirt any further._ _ _

________ _ _ _ _

___“I’m sorry Shouta but I just…I don’t feel.”_ _ _

________ _ _ _ _

___Shouta gave her an understanding look before getting off of her. “It’s okay, you don’t have to explain yourself. I don’t know what got into me all of a sudden.”_ _ _

________ _ _ _ _

___They both blushed looking away from each other awkwardly but made no move to get away from each other. Instead they packed up the first aid, putting it back into the bathroom before they got ready for bed. Only it felt different now. A strange calmness emanated between the two of them, like they’d reached an understanding and they were finally at peace. Going back to bed, they got under the covers Shouta laid on top of Lucy, head resting against her chest. Lucy ran her fingers through his thick hair finding that it had gotten tangled once again, but it didn’t matter to her now. Within minutes they dozed off, their minds clear falling into the most peaceful slumber either of them had had in a long time._ _ _

________ _ _ _ _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh my god, thank you all so much for the support on the story. I've received my first ever comments and it feels amazing to hear feedback and talk to anyone who might be reading this. Gonna be really busy in the coming weeks but I'll try to get at least one chapter out every week.


	8. A date? With who?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aizawa isn't exactly acting the best the next morning. Lucy goes on a date and Aizawa and her have a serious conversation.

Lucy felt like she was having trouble breathing. It felt like there was something heavy crushing her chest making breathing harder. Opening her eyes, she was met with a tangle of long black hair in her face and a pale body on top of hers. Oh god, this was it. One of those demon girls with long black hair seeking revenge for being wronged was finally going to kill her for who knows what. She quickly sat up trying to crawl away from the supposed demon only for her to smack her head against the wall behind her. Her yelp of pain and the sudden jolt of movement was enough to wake up Aizawa, he immediately perked up ready to fight whatever villain was trying to attack. But the only thing he found was Lucy who was now clutching the back of her head where a lump was starting to form. Shouta sighed and laid back down grumpy that his slumber was disturbed over something so trivial.  


“Are you always this troublesome in the morning or am I just special?” Shouta asked rubbing the sleep from his eyes.  


“It’s not like I meant to! You look like one of those demon lady’s first thing in the morning!”  


_‘Demon lady’s? What the heck is she talking about?’_  


Shouta just groaned leaving to go to the bathroom, still upset that Lucy had woken him up so abruptly. Lucy was left alone with a throbbing head and an active mind. After he’d left, she remembered exactly why it was that he was sleeping on her in the first place. She blushed, the memories of yesterday and the kiss they’d shared still fresh in her mind. What exactly did this mean? Were they a couple now? What were they going to do now? Lucy’s imagination was running wild as she pictured them going on dates, kissing, laughing, getting married and having children that all looked like him just with child sized bodies. Lucy clutched the pillow rolling around on the bed as she thought about how this would mean that Shouta was her first real boyfriend. She hoped that she wasn’t going to embarrass herself with how inexperienced she was, especially since Shouta was older and had probably had his fair share of girlfriends. Her excitement came to a halt when she played back their interaction just now. Aside from the embarrassing start, Shouta hadn’t even mentioned last night to her. He didn’t seem to be acting different either.  


_‘Maybe he just doesn’t remember. He just woke up after all.’_  


Lucy nodded pleased with her answer as she heard the door to the bathroom opening forcefully. Shouta practically ran into the room as he ripped his hero suit out of his closet and tugged it on without even sparing her a glance.  


“What’s wrong Shouta?”  


“My damn alarm didn’t go off and now I only have about 10 minutes to get to work!” Aizawa said, still not looking at her as he quickly zipped up his boots and sped out of the room.  


Lucy quickly untangled herself from the sheets as she went after him into the living room. Shouta was putting on his capture weapon, hand on the doorknob about to leave.  


“Wait! Shouta about last night- “  


“Now is not the time dammit we can talk about it later!” Shouta then patted at his pocket pulling out a rectangular object and all but threw it at her.  


Lucy barely managed to catch it, looking at the odd thing in her hands and saw that it was what they called a “phone” here. Lucy looked up at him confused.  


“It’s a phone, you can figure out how to use it. Maybe now you won’t get bored and look through other people’s things when you’re not supposed to.”  


Lucy felt a pang of guilt and hurt in her chest as she watched him head out the door without another word. _‘What was with him?’_ One minute he’s making out with her on his bed and the next he barely looks at her and scolds her. Lucy stood there in the quiet apartment, the only thing she could hear was her pounding heart rate and her insecurities screaming at her from inside herself. She looked down at the phone in her hands not knowing what to do with it. From what she knew they worked sort of like lacrimas but didn’t require any magic power. She’d seen Shouta with his own phone on a few occasions, but he didn’t seem to use it much.  


Lucy examined it before pressing one of the buttons on the side of the phone. The screen lit up and a picture of a cat showed up. On the bottom an arrow was pointing to the right telling her to swipe to open. Doing as she was told, a new screen appeared but this one had different square icons on it. After pressing on each of them she concluded that one was for calls, one was for messaging, one was some type of map, one was for searching things, and one seemed to be some type of game. She’d heard tales of people using phones from Warren who'd once told her that he was going to try and replicate it one day using lacrimas, hopefully making it easier for people to communicate. Lucy turned off the phone, placing it on the couch before she went to get ready for the day. She left her hair down, putting on a skirt and throwing on a hoodie over her shirt, ready for another day of not doing anything.  


After cleaning the dishes from the day before she sat back on the couch grabbing the phone and messing around with the apps again. She found that there was one number already saved on the phone who she guessed was Shouta’s. The thought crossed her mind to call or text him to see of he was okay and apologize, but she decided not to. She didn’t want to bother him if he was busy and risk getting him more upset with her than he already was. Instead she laid on the couch and played with the one game on the phone to pass the time. Lucy didn’t know how long she was playing the game for, but she only stopped when she felt her stomach grumble in hunger. Checking the time, she saw that it was around lunch time, reluctantly getting up she fixed herself up something quick eating it slowly, maybe it was because of how bad she was feeling that today seemed to go slower than yesterday. The feeling of anxiety hadn’t gone from her chest since Shouta had left, and being abandoned with nothing but her thoughts wasn’t helping. Lucy felt claustrophobic within the apartment, wanting nothing more than to just escape her thoughts for a couple of minutes. That was when she was reminded of something. The map on her phone. Opening up the app she saw that it already had her location marked in case she needed to find this place again. So surely it would be fine if she just left for a little bit, right?  


Before she could argue with herself over whether or not this was a good idea, she was already pulling on her thigh high socks and zipping up her boots. Her hands trembled against the cold metal of the doorknob, taking a deep breath, she was just about to open it when another thought crossed her mind. How was she going to get back in? She couldn’t just leave the door unlocked; a burglar could get in if she did that. Thinking for a second, she looked through her belongings until she found what she was looking for. Warren had given it to her to test out for him back at the guild. It was a small teleportation lacrima specifically made for these situations. It was supposed to teleport the user small distances, placing one in the desired teleporting spot and keeping the other on oneself. Really it was just supposed to get the user from one side of the door to the other in the situation that the user lost their house key. Warren ended up not mass producing his creation since it would make breaking in too easy, allowing Lucy to keep the one he gave her. She silently thanked herself and Warren for allowing it to still be in her possession. Lucy placed one on the floor in front of the door before she was back to debating whether or not she should leave. Shaking her head, she turned the knob and shielded her eyes from the afternoon sun. Taking one last look at the apartment, she locked the door before making her way down the street, not sure as to where she was going but just wanted to get there fast.  


* * *

Aizawa once again found himself patrolling the same area, and once again he found himself talking with his longtime friend. Only this time he was in an even worse mood. He knew that the way that he’d acted that morning was less than favorable and Lucy probably felt terrible because of what he’d said. He sighed knowing that he’d have to apologize to her again when he got home. Apologize and then talk about what happened. In truth Aizawa had no idea what happened, the urge just suddenly came over him and before he knew it, he was trying to take her clothes off. Their relationship was weird enough as it was without him trying to mount her like a rabbit in heat.  


“Eraser! Are you even listening?!”  


Oh yeah, that’s right, Mic was still here. In truth he’d tuned out the blonde as soon as he started talking. For some that might have seemed impossible given how loud Hizashi was but Shouta had known him long enough that his voice, like everything else, became easy to ignore. Aizawa just hummed in response as he continued to walk.  


“Man, you seem to be in an even worse mood than usual. Something happen with your ladylove?”  


Before Hizashi could let out another sound Aizawa had already wrapped his scarf around the blonde’s neck choking him much to the confusion and concern of passing bystanders. Not wanting to cause a scene Shouta let go of the blonde and again tried to leave as Mic coughed trying to regain his breath.  


“So, it is something about your girlfriend. Did she breakup with you or something?”  


“No!”  


“What is it then? You know you can tell me; I can keep my mouth shut.”  


That was the most unbelievable thing Aizawa had ever heard but still, he knew that his friend would be there when he needed him. Plus, he probably knew more about this stuff than he did. Maybe he could give him some advice on what to do and what he might be feeling. Looking around he pulled his friend around the corner to give them a bit of privacy before filling his friend in on the situation. Of course, he spared a few of the details, still wanting a bit of privacy but he gave him the general info as to what had happened the past few days. When he was done Mic stared at him in disbelief, mouth hanging open as he resisted the urge to scream in excitement and shock.  


“Oh my god. You’re dating a 19-year-old.”  


_‘THAT’S what he got out of it?’_ Shouta felt ready to leave again, thinking that it was useless telling Hizashi any of this, but his friend quickly stopped him from leaving.  


“Wait, wait, wait. I’m just kidding. But seriously dude? A 19-year-old mage who you slept with the first day you met her and only just now are you questioning your situation?”  


“It’s not that I’m just now questioning the situation it’s that I don’t know what to do now that I’ve just made it worse.”  


“You didn’t make it worse you just opened up an opportunity for the two of you to talk about things more seriously. If all goes well, you could actually have a girlfriend by the end of it.”  


“But is that what I want?”  


“Why are you asking me? That’s for you to decide. And here I thought you were supposed to be the logical one.”  


Aizawa shot his friend a glare as he thought about it for a moment. Did he want a girlfriend? More specifically, did he want Lucy to be his girlfriend? He knew almost nothing about her other than the general info that he assumed almost anyone could get where she was from. Usually people at least got to know each other before they dated. Lucy seemed nice and she was fun to tease but was that enough? Plus, there was still tension between mages and quirk users, it was a miracle that they even allowed mages to visit in the first place. He rubbed at his temples but knew what decision he was going to make. Now he just needed to find the right words to tell her that.  


Lucy strolled along the crowded street, enjoying the sounds of the city that were rare to find where she was from. Things were so crowded here, it reminded her of the Grand Magic Games days, when the stadium was packed with people who would ask for autographs and pictures after the matches were over. It was tiring but Lucy found the interactions sweet especially when it was younger fans that approached her asking for hugs or for her to sign something. It made her wonder if Shouta had ever been approached by a fan. Sure, he said that he was an underground hero but surely there had to be someone that knew him and idolized him. Thinking of Shouta also brought a new question to mind. What if she ran into him while she was out? The truth is she had no idea what he even did all day but what if he just so happened to be walking by and spotted her? Would he be mad and tell her to go home? Would he not care and let her carry on? Or would he just ignore her? Lucy was so overcome with questions that she found herself unable to see straight. It was either that or the ground was literally shaking right now. It was then that Lucy found herself and others toppling over onto the ground as the earth began to shake. Were they having an earthquake?  


No. This was something else as the screams of people could be heard getting louder from down the street. Something was down there, something was coming. People began to hastily try and get up and regain their footing to run away. Some were successful while others tried but failed. Lucy could only stare as she witnessed the giant monster appear from around one of the buildings. Its body seemed to be completely made of rock as it shuffled its way down the street, the earth shaking with each of its heavy footsteps. Luckily, it seemed to be moving slowly ensuring that many people could get away in time, that is if they could get up at all. Lucy grabbed on to a nearby wall and shakily began to stand up. She almost fell again when there was a particularly bad shake, but she managed to catch herself before she hit the concrete. Getting ready to run she stopped herself upon hearing the call of someone behind her. Looking back, she saw that a child, who was being carried by their mother, was crying out for their dog which had run out into the middle of the street and was currently barking at the large monster. If she ran away now, she could easily make it to safety, but the dog would probably get stepped on. Taking another look back her mind went blank as she noticed the monster lifting up his arm about to no doubt kill the poor pooch. Before she could think she found herself launching herself in the dog’s direction. She had gone into Aquarius mode focusing the water into her feet to make herself go faster and just before the monster could land the hit, she bolted past it, dog safely under her arm. Going towards the girl she handed her the dog back much to the relief and gratitude of both mother and child. Lucy told them to hurry and leave before things got worse. With one last thank you the two headed off as Lucy watched them leave. She was about to do the same when once again the earth shook knocking her to her knees.  


A shadow cast over her, looking up she found herself too scared to move as the monster had taken a larger step and was now about to stomp on her. She closed her eyes waiting for her impending doom when she felt two arms grab her and carry her off. She nervously opened up one eye once she felt them stop and to her amazement they were quite far away from where the monster was.  


“Are you okay there lady?” came a masculine voice from beside her.  


Looking up she stared into the blonde man’s lens covered eyes. She found herself at a loss for words as all she could do was nod at the man. He tilted his head and smiled at her which brought a strange sense of reassurance to her.  


“Who are you?”  


Aizawa had received a call to action about a villain terrorizing civilians a few streets over. He made his way there as quickly as he could knowing that the attack was particularly close to his apartment. He hoped Lucy was okay, at least glad that she was safe for the most part if she stayed inside. He already knew that Kamui Woods, Mic, Endeavor and others were either there or on their way there he just hoped that this wouldn’t take long, and that people weren’t killed.  


Arriving he saw that Kamui Woods was already restraining it while Endeavor was trying to incapacitate it. Surprisingly, he noticed that there weren’t any people on the streets anymore and that they were all already being held behind police tape. Still he walked around to make sure that there wasn’t anyone left or that there weren’t any villains trying to take advantage of the situation. While looking around he noticed Mic again as he went up to approach him. Mic looked a bit disappointed which Shouta remarked on prompting the blonde to let out a sigh.  


“Man, it just ain’t fair, someone already came through and rescued everyone. Now all anyone can talk about is that guy.”  


“Who?”  


“You know that newbie that just barely got here but already seems to be getting all the support. That wing hero, Hawks.”  


The man looked almost offended at her question putting the arm that wasn’t holding her on his chest in dramatic shock.  


“You must not be from around here. My names Hawks, I’m the number three hero in all of Japan.”  


Lucy finally got a good look at this man, Hawks. His blonde hair, which was darker than hers, was messy and swept back halfheartedly, held by a pair of black headphones. He was wearing a black and gold shirt underneath his fur lined tan jacket, the same color as his pants. His somewhat messy hair and faint stubble as well as his laid-back attitude reminded her of Shouta. The difference was that Shouta seemed to be low energy because he literally had no energy whereas this man seemed to be that way because he wanted to. But without a doubt his most prominent feature was the large pair of red wings on his back.  


“Oh, um, wow. It’s really nice to meet you Hawks-san.”  


“The pleasure’s all mine. You should consider yourself lucky, not everyone can say that they’ve been saved by the great Hawks you know.”  


Lucy sweat dropped at him and she got out of his grasp, dusting herself off before she got back into her original clothes. The man let out a whistle at her, looking her up and down. Lucy felt exposed under his gaze despite her modest attire and instinctively covered herself with her arms.  


“That’s a pretty neat quirk you got. I’ve never seen one that changes peoples clothes and gives them powers. What kind of quirk is it?”  


“W-well it’s, um, kind of like, um...”  


Hawks stared at her, confused as to why she was taking so long to answer such a simple question. He also kind of wanted to get back to the scene. He hadn’t been called. In fact, it was his day-off, but when he saw the opportunity to show off, he couldn’t resist. This was going to boost his approval rating up for sure, but it would boost it up more if he went to greet the fans.  


“Well whatever it is, try not to go around playing hero with it. Just leave it up to the professionals next time blondie.”  


“You’re blonde too! Besides, I couldn’t just let that dog get squashed, that’s not how we do things where I’m from.”  


Hawks wanted to roll his eyes. Everyday there always seemed to be someone trying to play the hero role in place of the pros. Though, he couldn’t really speak on the matter. Afterall, he’d been in her same place too, long ago. If he hadn’t done what she just did he probably wouldn’t be where he is today.  


“Oh yeah? And where are you from exactly anyway?”  


Once again, the blonde seemed to be at a loss for words. Squinting at her, she was beginning to make him suspicious. First, she can’t answer his question about her quirk and now she isn’t telling him where she’s from. _‘Is it possible she’s a villain?’_ Looking her up and down again, she didn’t seem dangerous. But Hawks knew that looks could be deceiving, her quirk whatever it was, seemed like simple water manipulation but even those quirks could be lethal if trained enough. He was on high alert ready to detain her if necessary as he approached her. But it was when she brought her hand up to her neck that he noticed it. A pink mark on the back of her hand.  


Hawks had heard about magic guilds during his hero training. They told him that mages were nothing but scum and that he shouldn’t trust them. Hawks wasn’t really paying much attention to that part though, the only thing he could think about was how amazing magic and mages sounded. To be a mage sounded wonderful, he could still save people if he wanted but he didn’t have to be hounded by fans all the time and there was no strict agenda he had to follow. If he wanted, he could just do miscellaneous jobs for the rest of his life and spend his days living peacefully somewhere in the country. The HPSC had confiscated a few magazines from overseas that people tried to smuggle in, and in his free time he would sneak one out and read it. The most popular guild seemed to be one called Fairy Tail, he read all about their misadventures, causing havoc while still being loved by the people since, despite their chaotic nature, still helped anyone in need. But one day people just stopped reporting on them, saying that they had mysteriously gone missing. At the time he was sad not to read more about the guild but still continued reading albeit not as seriously as he used to. It wouldn’t be until 7 years later that he heard about them again, how they had miraculously made a return and won the Grand Magic Games while also saving the world from dragons. It made him wonder why no one here ever brought up the fact that the world almost ended because of dragons but he decided not to question it. Not out loud anyway.  


“Hey, you’re a mage, aren’t you? That’s a Fairy Tail guild mark on your hand, isn’t it?”  


Lucy was amazed at the fact that he actually knew the guild. _‘I guess that means at least some heroes are filled in.’_ she thought to herself.  


Yeah, I am. I’m kind of surprised you know that since I thought people either didn’t know about us or hated us here.”  


Are you kidding? Your guild sounds awesome! I’ve always wanted to have a chat with a mage, it just so happens to be my luck that I not only found a mage but one that’s apart of such a prominent guild. Do you mind if I treat you to some food? I’d like to hear more about what it’s like on the other side.”  


Lucy felt flattered but hesitated. What if Shouta decided to call or what if he got home early? Lucy looked at the time that was displayed on a nearby building, 2:23. Shouta wasn’t going to be home for hours if he didn’t pull any surprises. It was either go with Hawks or spend the next 8-9 hours bored at home. Lucy looked at Hawks outstretched hand and took it. He grinned at her before leading her down the street asking where she’d like to eat talking about a restaurant that had great chicken wings. Lucy smiled at him letting him choose where to go. He seemed nice if a bit arrogant. Maybe it would be good having at least someone to talk to here besides Shouta.  


* * *

A bit of a long walk later and Lucy found herself laughing happily beside Hawks who was drowning his chicken wings in hot sauce. Despite how his looks reminded her of Shouta his eating habits reminded her of Natsu. They’d spent the past half hour trading stories about their adventures, Hawks insisted that she talk more since he seemed genuinely interested in everything she had to say and gave a few witty remarks to some of her tales that she couldn’t help but laugh at.  


“So, you were actually asleep for 7 years?! How old does that make you then, like 45?”  


“Excuse me! I’m 19, technically I didn’t age at all in anyway since first masters magic preserved our bodies and kept us from ageing. If I hadn’t been under that spell, I’d be about 26 by now.” Lucy said taking a sip from her drink.  


Damn, that means that I’m older than you despite having been born later. That’ll be confusing if you ever decide to marry.”  
Lucy chuckled. Everyone in the guild had also thought about that fact. How their legal documents were probably all messed up now because of that gap and everyone also wondered if this effected their romantic lives or not.  


“You assume I’ll ever get married.” Lucy replied somewhat sarcastically.  


“Why wouldn’t you? You’re hot and you're fun to be around. Who wouldn’t want to snatch you up?”  


Lucy let out a dry laugh at his statement, “Believe me I have terrible luck with men. I haven’t really been on a proper date with a guy before.”  


“Aw, you saying this isn’t a date?”  


“Do you want it to be a date?” Lucy asked, not knowing where this sudden confidence came from.  


“Yeah, maybe I do.”  


“Then, I guess it’s a date.”  


“Well if that’s the case then this date has only just begun. You’ve never been here before so let me show you around.”  


Yeah, that sounds nice.”  


Hawks called the waiter over for the bill only to find that the meal had been paid for courtesy of the restaurant owner being a fan. Hawks thanked him before he grabbed Lucy’s hand and walked out of the restaurant. Along the way he ended up getting approached by fans various times asking for a photo or an autograph. Lucy just stood by watching it happen as she was shoved away by more eager fans. It made her feel a bit down, remembering when she and Shouta had gone out shopping, not a single person approaching him for fanservice, and they could just walk around like normal people. Hawks suddenly cut through the crowd apologizing to them as he explained he had to leave. They sounded disappointed but he paid them no mind as he walked back to Lucy looking apologetic.  


“Sorry about that, being popular means you end up having quite a few fans. I can’t just say no to them y’know?”  


“I guess so…” Lucy said as they continued walking. As they walked Hawks explained to her some of the places around them and on occasion some of the missions he had in or around certain areas.  


Despite his mellow tone the stories he told sounded amazing. The villains he faced and people he saved astounded Lucy, considering he was still so young.  


I don’t see why you’re so amazed. You literally saved the world twice before you were even twenty,” Hawks said noticing her shocked expression.  


“I didn’t do it by myself though. My friends were the one’s that really saved everyone, I’m small compared to them.”  


“Aren’t we all though? We can’t discredit ourselves just because we’re a small piece of the greater picture. You need to have more confidence in yourself little dove.”  


“Little dove?”  


“Yeah, dove, you know, cause your fat and poofy like one.”  


Lucy smacked him over the head as he burst out laughing. “I’m not fat!”  


“Maybe not, but you’re still little. And that’s not a bad thing, I happen to like shorter women.”  


“Good for you,” Lucy said crossing her arms and turning her head away from him.  


Hawks just laughed at her, crossing his arms behind his head. He found her entertaining if not lovable. Her reactions to things was amusing and it made him want to provoke her more if only to see what she would do or say. The sun had started to set, they sat on a bench for a moment enjoying the scenery. A gentle breeze blew by blowing a bit of Lucy’s hair into her face. She went to remove it, but a gloved hand came up to brush it behind her ear. Lucy looked at Hawks whose face was now closer to hers, his eyes went from looking into hers to down at her lips. Time seemed to slow as his eyes shut and he leaned in closer to her.  


_‘Oh god, what would Shouta think?..... SHOUTA!'_  


"What time is it?!” Lucy all but shouted as she leaned away from the now startled bird man.  


“Um…9:45?”  


“Oh crap, I gotta get home! But there’s no way I’ll make it back on time by 11 on foot!” Lucy exclaimed as she gripped the roots of some of her hair.  


“Woah, woah, woah. Slow down there cinderella. What’s the rush to get home so soon? Can’t wait to get rid of me already? You gonna turn into a kitchen maid if you’re not home by midnight?”  


“It’s not that. I just, have a curfew, you know?”  


“You, a grow ass woman has a curfew? What, is your mommy gonna ground you if you’re not home on time?”  


“Well it’s not exactly a curfew but, I have to get home before the person I’m living with gets home.”  


“Why?”  


“Why are you asking so many questions? Dammit, I snuck out of the house without them knowing and they get home at 11 but there’s no way I’ll get home before they do and still have time to make dinner.”  


“Oh, so you’re a rebellious child. How naughty of you. Don’t worry I’ll get you home before your mom finds out that you snuck off to go smooch boys.”  


“I wasn’t smooching boys! How are you gonna get me there anyway? You got a mode of transportation?”  


“Honey, I am the mode of transportation.” Hawks said as he extended his wings to further emphasize his point.  


“Oh. How are you gonna carry me though?”  


Just as she said that Hawks swept her off her feet, carrying her bridal style. “The way all women should be carried. That is unless they suck, then you just drag them. Now where do you live?”  


Lucy got her phone out of her pocket, only to notice that she had 3 missed calls from Shouta. Great. He was definitely going to grill her about it later. Showing Hawks the address he took off into the late day sky. Lucy gripped his coat tightly burying her face in his neck as she tried not to look down. She hated heights but endured it on occasion if she was on a mission. Now that she wasn’t, she was free to be as scared as she wanted. Hawks nudged her head with his chin prompting her to look at him.  


“Come on now dove, it’s actually a great view. Who knows? You may never get a chance like this again.”  


Nervously Lucy untucked her head and looked out over the city. It really was a view unlike any other. They were above the buildings which also gave them a perfect view of the blazing sunset. The sky was filled with gold, orange and red hues and Lucy found herself unable to look away.  


“See? I told you it was a great view. And you wanted to shy away from it, you need to be a bit braver little dove.”  


Lucy just hummed in response still looking at the sunset, feeling her eyes starting to grow heavy.  


“It kind of reminds me of you,” Lucy said, her voice sleepy but Hawks still heard her and smirked.  


“Aw, I’m flattered dove. Now, I know that whenever you look at a sunset, you’ll think of me. Maybe that should be my new slogan to tell people. “Look out at the sunset and know that I’ll be there!” Nah, too corny.”  


Lucy let out a final throaty laugh before she let herself fall asleep in his arms. She just hoped that he wouldn’t drop her either accidentally or on purpose. He seemed like the type to do either one. Hawks looked down at the sleeping mage in his arms and smiled. This was the first time he’d ever allowed someone to do that. It also wasn’t common that he’d carry people in general. It was too much of a hassle and people were heavy. It was times like these when he wished his quirk made him physically stronger as well, but he could only wish to be so lucky.  


Finally, they made it to the apartment complex and Hawks landed in the parking lot. He shook Lucy slightly, waking her. She sucked in a breath before rubbing her eyes and yawning. Hawks set her down and Lucy stretched her slightly cramped muscles.  


“Is this the place?” Hawks asked her.  


“Yeah, this is it. Thank you so much for dropping me off. I would have gotten into a lot of trouble without you. I need to repay you someday.”  


“How about you repay me tomorrow? Let’s spend some time together again. That is if you’re free.”  


“Sure, I’d love to. Let’s meet here again tomorrow.”  


“Sounds good. Here give me your phone, I’ll add my number.”  


After handing him her phone, he put in his number and they said their goodbye’s. Lucy watched as he took off into the night sky, some of his feathers raining down. One of them fluttered down to her and she reached out grabbing it. She smiled at the soft red feather putting it in her pocket before she walked back to Shouta’s apartment.  


Teleporting back in, she was met with the dark quiet apartment. Her good mood faltering a little as she went to go turn on a light. If she hurried, she could make something simple before he got home. So, she just decided to make some spaghetti. She didn’t make that much since she was still full from Hawks taking her out to eat. She sat at the table mindlessly scrolling through her phone when a notification popped up.  


_🐔🔥: You’re not grounded are you, dove?_  


Lucy rolled her eyes playfully before texting back.  


_✨🗝: They’re not home yet, so we’ll have to wait and see. I just finished making dinner so hopefully they won’t be as mad._  


_🐔🔥: Ooo. I love a woman that can cook. Maybe that’s what we’ll do tomorrow. You can come over and make me food._  


_✨🗝: How would that be fun for me? What would you provide?_  


_🐔🔥: Ingredients and entertainment_  


Lucy was about to reply when she heard the door unlocking. Quickly she typed out a response before turning off the phone.  


_✨🗝: They’re home. See you tomorrow._  


In stepped a disheveled looking Aizawa who threw his capture weapon on the floor before looking at her. His expression looking none too pleased.  


“Why didn’t you answer the phone?”  


Lucy gulped, his voice was harsh and reminded her of the tone her father used to use when he scolded her. She found herself unable to say anything as she just stared down at her hands which rested clenched in her lap.  


"Look, I know I was a dick this morning, but you can’t just ignore my calls. There was a villain attack nearby and I wanted to know if you were okay. Goddammit I thought something happened to you!”  


“I’m fine,” was all she could manage out.  


“Well obviously I can see that now, but next time could you please just call back or text? You had me worried sick you know?”  


A wave of guilt passed through her when she heard his words. The entire day she’d been carelessly frolicking around with Hawks while Shouta was thinking she’d died or something. She felt awful, but how was she supposed to explain that the reason why she didn’t answer was because she was busy spending time with someone else? He’d probably flip if he heard that she’d left and almost died in a villain attack. So, for now, she said nothing. A tense silence filled the room and Lucy felt herself shrinking under his hard gaze. Something else that reminded her too much of her father.  


Aizawa disappeared into the hall followed by the sound of the shower running and the door slamming shut. She grabbed her phone again, turning it on to find that Hawks had left a message.  


_🐔🔥: See you tomorrow dove. If anything bad happens, I’m here for you._  


Even when he wasn’t with her Hawks still somehow found a way to reassure her. But she didn’t know if she could truly tell him either. She didn’t want to think about the possibility of Hawks thinking badly of her if she were to tell him her situation. But Hawks seemed to be an understanding guy, so he probably wouldn’t judge her for it. Right? Lucy didn’t like keeping her emotions pent up, she preferred talking to people about her problems, that’s just the kind of person she was. But she would usually talk about her problems with close friends, which she didn’t exactly have on hand at the moment. So, the closest thing she had was Hawks right now. But it was too soon to just dump all her emotional problems on him. She knew that that kind of thing could be off putting for some people, so she decided that it would be better to wait before she told him.  


The bathroom door opened and Shouta came out into the living room. His hair was wet and dripping everywhere and he wore his usual black ensemble. He went over to the stove and served himself up some pasta before sitting down. Still not saying anything and still not looking at her. Lucy wanted to get up and leave but she felt too awkward to even do that. Her anxiousness kept her glued to her seat whether she wanted it to or not. Aizawa seemed to be eating in slow motion even though he was just eating normally. He didn’t do anything just to tease her like he had the previous night, by eating slow on purpose or slurping his water too loudly. But somehow this seemed to make her more uncomfortable than any of his taunts or teases ever could. It seemed like an eternity before he got finished eating and placed his dishes in the sink. With every step he took Lucy felt a sense of dread knowing that something was about to happen. Nothing life threatening, but she felt as though apart of her would die all the same once it was over. Shouta sat across from her, arms on the table, holding his hands together the way an authority figure would before dealing out your punishment.  


“We need to talk about last night.”  


Something was definitely going to die here today. Maybe not literally but it would be gone all the same.  


“What about it?”  


“All of it. First, I want to start by saying that my behavior was inappropriate, and I want to apologize to you.”  


“You don’t have to apologize; it didn’t bother me really.” ‘Why was he sounding so official? He would probably be great at public apologies.’  


“Still, I didn’t give you the chance to say whether or not you wanted to do it. That was my fault for being unable to control myself.”  


“But you stopped when I told you to. You didn’t try to pressure me into doing anything more. You can’t just put all the blame on yourself.”  


“Even so, I’d like to talk about what this means for us in the future. I don’t want things to be confusing or uncomfortable for us later because of this. I want the both of us to be on the same page, I think even you can agree on that.”  


“Yeah, that would be good, I guess.”  


“Alright, I’m just going to get straight to the point with this. I’m not looking for a romantic relationship with you.”  


While Lucy was definitely expecting this deep down since the beginning. It still hurt to hear him say it, not helped by how bluntly he had put it.  


“Then what is it that you feel about me?! You spend the past few days teasing me nonstop, flirting with me, kissing me! Did it all mean nothing or were you just bored and thought it was amusing?!”  


“Don’t start putting words in my mouth. I won’t deny that I do like you, I like you better than most people. But logistically speaking a romantic relationship with you wouldn’t be good, for you or for me.”  


“There you go again with your logic! Why can’t you just do something because you feel some type of way about it!”  


“And what do you want then, hm? You want to pursue a romantic relationship with a man you don’t know anything about, that lives all the way across the ocean from you, that is part of the group of people that you’re not supposed to trust, and who you only know because he thought you were a cat when he found you? What are you gonna tell the kids one day, hm? That the first time you properly met their father he railed you into the bed because you wanted to plow anything in sight?”  


“I don’t know okay?! I know that it isn’t rational, but I really like you and I would’ve wanted to date you. Or at least I would’ve liked to get to know you better before I made a decision.”  


Shouta sighed as he slouched in his chair. He knew that this conversation wouldn’t be easy, and he expected her to blow up at him for the things he said. It was times like these he wished he were better at talking to younger people and it was part of the reason why he didn’t really like kids or teens. He’d probably make a bad parent or teacher if he ever somehow found himself in that situation. He placed an arm on her shoulder and she flinched at his touch. It pained him to see her like this, but it was for her own good.  


“You’re still young, Lucy. You don’t know what you want in a lot of ways. Hell, there are even proper adults who still don’t know what they want. But you can’t just let your heart decide everything for you. One of these days you’re going to have to rely on your brain alone to make important decisions. This should be one of those times. I want you to realize that this probably isn’t going to work out. Not right now at least. I can’t stop you from feeling what you’re feeling but what I am telling you is to have an open mind that sees both sides of an argument. I won’t oppose us getting to know each other and you can still live here, I’ll still pay for your services no problem. If by the end of it, you still feel the same then we can talk about things another day and see where they go. For now, let’s consider ourselves temporary roommates and nothing more. Okay?”  


Lucy wanted to storm out of the apartment. To get on the nearest boat and go back home, acting like any of this never happened. But she couldn’t do that. Not yet anyway. Because she knew she couldn’t deny her feelings for the older man, maybe it wasn’t love, but it still felt strong and like something she wouldn’t be able to flick off her shoulder like a bug in summer. Her head hurt and she wanted to lie down suddenly feeling like all of her energy had been sucked out of her body. All she could muster as a response was a head nod and a hum of confirmation. Aizawa wanted more of a response than that but he knew she was just as tired as he was. Now that the storm had passed there was silence, but not the peaceful silence of relief that it was finally over, but a sad silence as you process everything that had been lost. He knew things were going to be tense for a while after this, not helped by the fact that he wouldn’t be home often enough to relieve some of the tension.  


That night, Lucy said she would sleep on the couch which Shouta consented to understandingly, handing her a pillow and blanket before he went off to his room. Now Lucy lay on the slightly uncomfortable couch staring into the darkness of the living room, listening to the ticking of the clock on the wall. She felt numb, like she’d put her emotions through a marathon of feelings. Sadness, Happiness, Anger, Fear, she’d felt it all today and now there was nothing. Lucy turned to lie on her back, draping her arm over her eyes as she let out a dry laugh feeling a single tear run down her cheek.  


She really did have the worst luck with men.  


Meanwhile, sitting in a nearby tree a certain bird of prey had heard everything between the two. _‘It really pays off to have feathers this useful.’_ And before anyone could ask why the number three hero was sitting in a tree, he was gone, leaving a trail of red feathers behind him.  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hawks is here! Things have really taken and turn and who knows where Lucy and Aizawa relationship will go after this. Thank you all for the support and I still can't believe how many people have read this story, it makes me really happy. I love replying to comments so let me know what you guys think so far or if you guys have any questions in general regarding the story or other things, I'd love to hear from you. :)  
> Also chapters are getting more troublesome to edit since for some reason I'm having trouble with italics and I end up having to format things differently which takes awhile.


	9. Reconcile

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hawks and Lucy go on another date, Aizawa gets drunk and things get emotional

The next morning had been rather tense, to say the least. Shouta had woken up at his usual time in his cold, empty bed. Even though she’d only slept in his bed for about 3 days, he already missed the warmth she brought from lying next to him. Getting ready for the day reminded him of what it was like before Lucy began to sort of live with him. The apartment was quiet and the only thing he could hear was himself, if it weren’t for last night’s fight still being fresh in his mind, he could have sworn it was just him in the apartment. Stepping into the living room he looked at Lucy’s unmoving form on the couch. She was facing away from him so he didn’t know if she was awake or asleep, but just in case she was, he tried to be as quiet as he could. He grabbed his keys and was about to head out when he noticed something on the kitchen counter. A slice of toast with egg sat on the counter waiting for him, upon touching it, it was still warm. Aizawa looked at Lucy’s still unmoving body and sighed. He grabbed the toast before grabbing his keys, he placed his hand on the doorknob but before he left, he said goodbye to Lucy.  
  


“I’m heading off now kid if you need anything don’t hesitate to call me okay?”  
  


He didn’t receive an answer from the blonde which he anticipated but still didn’t enjoy it. Popping the toast in his mouth, he left out the door locking it behind him. He was at the entrance of the apartment complex when something red in a nearby bush caught his eye. A feather, a red feather, a rather large red feather. Picking it up, he inspected it with interest. It was larger than any of the birds that were common around these areas, but what large bird would be around here? The vibrant red color pretty much eliminated any of the usual large birds like cranes, swans, eagles, hawks…. Hawks? But what would the wing hero be doing here? _‘The villain attack from yesterday was close by, maybe he just flew through here to make sure there weren’t any civilians in danger. That sounds logical.’ _With that, he put the thought out of his mind and continued on his way to work.  
  
__

____

____

After Aizawa had left, Lucy quickly got out of bed to get ready for the day. She didn’t know what all Hawks and she were going to do today, but she wanted to look nice for it, but in a way that didn’t make it seem obvious. She settled with a white shirt and high waisted shorts with white and red high-top shoes. She was ready earlier than expected so she washed the dishes and had just gotten done when she received a message from Hawks. 

_🐔🔥: You ready to sneak out again dove? I’m waiting outside._

____

__

Lucy rolled her eyes before quickly placing the lacrima down and heading out the door. Walking to the entrance there stood Hawks in all his glory minus his hero attire. Instead, he wore a white shirt under a blue denim jacket and dark blue jeans, his boots were replaced with red and white sneakers. He smiled at her once he noticed her walking over. 

“Aw, look at that, we almost match, careful or people might think we’re a couple.” 

“A couple of friends?” 

“Yeah, of course,” he said as he cried internally. 

Lucy laughed as she walked ahead of him, sticking her tongue out. “So where are we off to chicken wing?” 

“So now I’m chicken wing?” Hawks said as he slung an arm around her leading her to the crosswalk nearby. 

“Yeah, chicken wing, because that’s all you ate yesterday you cannibal.” 

“I’ll have you know that hawks are carnivores and I’m no chicken, speaking of eating I’d like to get some food in me before we do anything time-wasting. Have you eaten yet?” 

“Not yet, I don’t have any money though.” 

“I don’t mind paying, being number three pays a lot of money ya know. I could buy the restaurant if I wanted to.” 

“Good for you, can we just go eat already before your head gets any bigger?” Lucy said as she pinched his cheek. 

Hawks laughed holding his slightly hurt cheek as they made their way to a small diner nearby. Hawks said that she could get anything she wanted no problem, but Lucy still chose to order something small and cheap out of habit. As they waited for their food, they made small talk while Hawks made a tower out of the creamer packets 

“You didn’t get grounded did you dove? Hopefully, you didn’t get in too much trouble.” 

“They’re not my dad, I didn’t get grounded. Things are just kind of tense between us right now though.” 

“That sucks, speaking of which how did you and your, um, “roommate” meet? If you don’t mind my asking.” 

Lucy paled briefly which Hawks didn’t fail to notice but didn't comment on it. Lucy regained her composure just as quickly before answering him. 

“I was on a mission here that didn’t exactly go as planned, it left me with a few injuries and my money getting stolen. They felt sorry for me so they offered to house me until I could get back on my feet. That’s about as far as our relationship goes.” 

Hawks had to give it to her, she wasn’t a bad liar. If he was anyone else, he probably would’ve fallen for it. Not that he could say that to her though. When he found out it was Eraserhead he can’t say he wasn’t more than a bit surprised, but what was especially surprising was their conversation last night. He knew he was missing a big chunk of the story but how was he going to get it out of her? He needed her to trust him just a bit more and she’d eventually tell. He just had to be patient. 

“Are you okay? Why didn’t you go to the authorities? One of the heroes could have helped you if you just informed them what happened.” 

“Oh, you know, I didn’t want to cause trouble in a country that isn’t fond of mages, it would’ve been a tiring process anyway and I just want to hurry and get home.” 

“I guess I can understand that. But still, how about you tell me what they looked like and I’ll keep an eye out for you okay? It is my job as a hero to bring justice.” 

Lucy was reluctant but eventually gave him a description of what the kid looked like from what she could remember. Hawks took a few mental notes about it before their food came. The conversation changed after that to a lighter topic as they enjoyed their food. Lucy wondered if this is what it felt like to go on a proper date. No teammates, no misunderstandings, a normal, nice guy and genuine enjoyment on both ends. At least she hoped it was enjoyed on both ends. 

Once they were done, Hawks decided to take her to the mall for a bit. Lucy’s eyes were as big as saucers when she saw all of the shops and people. They didn’t have malls in Ishgar, at least none that she knew of, and she couldn’t believe all the things that could be held in such a confined space. Hawks chuckled at her reaction. He’d never seen anyone so astonished at something as simple as a shopping mall. It wasn’t even a particularly large one, but he frequented it because it had one of the few shops that had clothes for people with bird quirks. He took her around each of the shops offering to pay for anything she wanted but Lucy refused all of his offers. After her encounters with her father when he was still alive, she wasn’t comfortable asking other people for money or accepting offers to pay for things for her. It made her feel like she was using them, and she would rather get money through honest work rather than someone else’s charity. Hawks was persistent though, so after some begging, she agreed to let him buy her a keychain from a capsule vending machine for 80 yen. Ironically enough it turned out to be a mini flashlight in the shape of a chicken, they both laughed when they saw it with Hawks swearing he hadn’t done it on purpose. 

Hawks took her to the store that he frequented often for clothes called Aviary. Lucy tried not to stare at all the people with different ranges of bird quirks. There were some with wings like Hawks that had them on their backs, while others had wings for arms, some had bird heads and others had full upper or lower bodies that were part bird. There ranged so many different colors and species of bird that Lucy felt almost out of her element for being the only fully human one in the store. Hawks gave her hand a reassuring grip when he noticed her discomfort and he asked her what clothes she thought would look good on him. Lucy examined all of the clothes, amazed at the holes in the backs of the shirts that ranged from smaller to larger and some had multiple pairs of holes. 

“Hey, Hawks.” 

“Yes, dove?” 

“How do you put on a shirt anyway and how do you take it off, isn’t it annoying with your wings in the way constantly?” 

“Well of course it is, it’s the struggle that anyone with wings has to go through. But we’ve pretty much gotten used to it now, anyone with a mutation quirk has to learn to work around their mutation till eventually we even forget it’s there. As for my shirt well, how about I just show you?” 

Hawks picked out a shirt before grabbing her by the wrist and all but dragging her over to the dressing room despite her protests. Inside the dressing room, Lucy saw that it was much larger than the usual dressing rooms that she’d seen. Each of the stalls was big enough to make sure that people could fit properly without bumping their wings or tails, and none of the doors had doorknobs, instead, they each had door handles that would lock as soon as they were shut. Hawks pulled her into the nearest empty stall and quickly shut the door with a strange sense of excitement. Hawks was quick to take off his jacket and was just about to take off his shirt when Lucy turned away in embarrassment clenching her eyes shut and covering them with her hands for good measure. 

“Come on dove how am I supposed to show you how I put on and take off my shirts if you’re not looking?” 

“You could have just shown me with your jacket! How can you be so calm about stripping in front of someone like this?” 

“Now now this is for science Lucy and putting on a jacket is entirely different from a shirt. No need to be embarrassed, I’m sure you’ve seen plenty of shirtless men in your time.” 

“That doesn’t mean I’m used to it! You could have just told me instead of doing this!” _‘That and the last time I saw a guy shirtless it didn’t end well.’_

____

____

“Please keep your voice down dove. Otherwise, people might think we’re doing something dirty in here, and being the number three hero would surely end with it being publicly announced. Then you’d have to deal with the media thinking we diddled in a public dressing room.” 

“Are you literally threatening me into silence right now?” 

“Possibly, now shut up and watch, you were the one who was curious after all.” 

Lucy swallowed down an insult, reluctantly opening her eyes and turning around to look at him. Hawks turned his back to her and before she could even blink her vision filled with red as his feathers scattered throughout the room. Lucy watched amazed as one by one the feathers removed themselves and remained in midair until all there was left were small, bare stumps on his back. Hawks pulled the shirt over his head and easily pulled the small stumps of his wings through the holes in the shirt. He turned back to her, shirt in hand, and smirk prominent on his lips upon seeing her amazed reaction. 

“I can attach and detach my feathers whenever I want, it makes it easier for me to put on clothes or go to sleep. Not everyone with wings can do that though, so I consider myself pretty lucky for it.” 

Hawks set his shirt down on the chair in the corner before trying on the one he grabbed. Putting it on, he pouted his lips and framed his face with his hands before doing an over the top dramatic model walk. Lucy clamped a hand over her mouth as she watched him walk the invisible catwalk modeling the plain grey t-shirt that he’d picked out like it was the next big thing in fashion. After his impromptu fashion show Hawks quickly put his original shirt back on and reattached his feathers. The two left with Hawks ending up buying the shirt as they made their way out of the mall laughing like idiots as people stared confused at the number three hero and the mysterious lady beside him. 

* * *

Aizawa was currently on his lunch break as he shoveled down fast-food fries while mindlessly scrolling through his phone. He debated whether or not he should call Lucy to see if she was alright, but he didn’t know if she even wanted to talk to him right now. Instead, he just decided to send her a message before awaiting a response. As he was waiting, he heard the clicking of heels getting louder until it was right next to him. 

“Aizawa?” 

Looking up he met a pair of familiar blue eyes behind a pair of half-rimmed glasses. There in all her scantily clad glory was Kayama Nemuri, his friend since UA and constant supplier of perverted innuendo’s. 

“Oh, hey Kayama,” he said before taking a bite out of his burger. 

“I hope you’re not eating this stuff every day; you know that you have to take care of yourself as a pro hero.” 

“Oh, and what are you doing exactly? Because it doesn’t look like what you ordered is the peak of health either,” he said as he stared down at her tray that had a burger and fries much like his. 

“Hey, it’s my cheat day and I only do it about once a month. Honestly, I find it surprising you’re so thin when this is probably your daily diet,” Kayama said as she took the seat in front of him and sat down. 

“My daily stress keeps me bone-thin, you should try it its done wonders for me,” Shouta said sarcastically as he went to drown his fries in ketchup. 

“Very funny, so has anything new happened in your life? Gotten a better wardrobe? Started a good book? Gotten on the dating scene? Has literally anything interesting happened to you since the last time we talked?” 

“Can’t say that it has, and even if it did, I wouldn’t tell you,” he said, as his mind flashed an image of the blonde in his head before it was gone just as fast. 

“Ah, yes conversations with you are about as flavorful as water Aizawa. Only with a lot less health benefits. Well if you’re not on the dating scene there are at least other pros that are.” 

“I don’t want to hear about your failed love life Kayama. Don’t you think you’re getting a bit too old for that kind of stuff?” 

The cup that Kayama was holding was immediately crushed within her grasp, spilling diet soda all over the table and floor. She had a tight-lipped smile and very obvious tick marks on her forehead as a menacing ora emitted from her much to the fear of other customers around her. 

“I don’t know what you’re talking about Aizawa, I’m as youthful as always and nothing is going to change that. Maybe you should be the one with glasses since clearly, you’re the one whose getting so old your eyes are failing you!” 

Aizawa just gave her a blank stare as he sipped at his drink. He grabbed some of the napkins from his tray and handed them over to her which she forcefully accepted before she went back to normal. He knew that Kayama had a bit of an obsession with youth and tended to get a bit violent whenever someone insinuated that she was anything but. He usually avoided the topic altogether, but he just wanted some kind of out from the conversation of relationships that she was about to drag him into. 

“Anyway, like I was saying….” 

Mission failed. He just went through angry Kayama’s wrath for nothing. He’d have to try something else next time. 

“Other pro heroes have gotten into the dating game even if you haven’t. There’s word going around that Hawks has found himself a lady and that he spent the whole day with her yesterday.” 

Normally Aizawa would have just tuned out the conversation as soon as she started talking, but at the mention of the winged heroes name the gears in his head started turning. _‘No. There’s no way. How would they have even met? Lucy just spends the entire day indoors, right?’_

____

____

“Who cares? It was probably just a random civilian anyway. If they want to go for someone that childish that’s their problem,” Aizawa said as he racked his brain for all the reasons why it wouldn’t be Lucy who was seen with Hawks. 

“You say childish, I say filled to the brim with youth. I’m not surprised someone like him was able to find someone so fast. I mean have you seen him? Those rugged good looks, his wealth, that hair, those wings, that heroic drive, that face.” 

“Will you stop before they have to clean the chair?” 

“I’m just saying, the boy’s an absolute winged stallion. Just look at everything he’s accomplished since he started. He got his own agency before he was even 20 and he’s already made it to number three. The kid’s going fast and flying high. I bet he goes even faster in be- “ 

“Going fast isn’t necessarily a good thing and flying high may seem great at first but it’ll only make the fall that much more painful.” 

“No one asked for your proverbs Aizawa. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you were jealous.” 

“Jealous of what? He’s the last person I’d ever want to be, you know how much I hate the limelight and that kid practically lives in it. Besides, I enjoy not having my love life being whispered about by random civilians and nosey pro heroes,” Aizawa said before he picked up his tray full of trash to leave. 

“Hmm, whatever you say. Oh, and Aizawa!” 

“What is it?” 

“Some fellow pros including myself are going out for drinks to celebrate Endeavor’s birthday. You should come with.” 

“That sounds like the last thing I’d ever want to do; I don’t want to risk you shoving some unholy concoction of liquor down my throat again. I also just don’t care for Endeavor in general.” 

“I swear it’s not going to be that bad, I promise I’ll even limit the alcohols that I mix together to 3, just please come out with us this once. You don’t have to converse with him just wish him a happy birthday or something and enjoy the free alcohol. You don’t even have to mean it.” 

Aizawa sighed as he threw away his trash. He was looking forward to having a shorter day than normal, but Kayama probably wasn’t going to leave him be till he agreed. Fine, he would go for an hour, drink a little bit and then go home. He didn’t need to waste time mindlessly drinking with people he didn’t know too well who were also probably just there for the free drinks. 

“Fine, but don’t expect me to stay long, one drink and I’m gone.” 

“Yeah, yeah. Oh, right I should probably also tell you it’s raining outside so you should probably get an umbrella or something.” 

“Now you tell me,” Shouta said as he looked outside, and sure enough it was raining pretty hard. Looking back at his phone he still hadn’t received a text back from Lucy, she hadn’t even read it yet. He couldn’t explain it, but he felt a sudden sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach when he looked at the unread message. Something was up and he was going to find out what it was, one way or another. 

* * *

Lucy and Hawks stared at the downpour from underneath an awning. The rain had come out of nowhere and they had to find the nearest shelter from the rain. Lucy shivered as she stood in her wet clothes, wishing that she’d at least brought a jacket before she left. Both of them had gotten completely drenched when the rain started, and they only made it worse for themselves when they ran through the rain just to get where they are now. Suddenly she felt something warm and slightly less wet get put on her shoulders. She looked over at the now jacketless Hawks who gave her a sheepish grin before putting an arm over her. 

“I’m really sorry dove, I should’ve checked the weather forecast before I scheduled our date for today.” 

“So, this is a date?” Lucy asked playfully before putting her arms through the sleeves. The jacket helped a little but her back still felt cold and exposed because of the wing holes. 

“Yeah, I guess I do. A super crappy date maybe, but I still think it was a date.” 

“I don’t think it’s crappy.” 

“Huh?” 

“I don’t think this date has been crappy. This is probably the nicest date I’ve been on in all honesty. Even if we did get caught up in the rain, I don’t mind as long as it’s with you.” 

“Stop dove, you’re gonna make me blush. Keep saying things like that and I might just have to wife you right here and now.” 

“As you said, it might be a bit complicated because of that gap, huh?” 

“We’ll figure something out dove. But first, we need to get out of this rain before you catch a cold. The rain is starting to let up and my place isn’t too far from here. If we run, I’m sure we can make it, I would suggest flying but my wings got a bit too wet so I can’t fly the best right now.” 

“Alright, let’s try to hurry and get there than before the rain picks up.” 

Looking both ways the two hurriedly crossed the road to the nearby apartment building. The rain began to grow heavy again as they were getting closer to the door. Hawks used his wings to shield both of them until they made it to the door. Hawks’ wings were dripping water throughout the lobby which the receptionist gave him an irritated look for. He just grinned at him before leading Lucy over to the elevator and pressing the button to the top floor. It was a long wait filled with elevator music and the both of them shivering but they finally made it to the right floor and stood outside the wide looking door. 

Once they were in Lucy thought that her eyes would pop out of her head with how big the apartment was. A large window went from one end of the room to the other giving a perfect view of the city and all of the lights from the buildings. Unlike Shouta’s apartment, Hawks’ apartment was filled to the brim with things but still felt warm and home-like. The floors were mahogany wood and the walls were a golden color. It felt almost regal to Lucy and the chandelier that hung above them only accentuated that thought. 

“-Now let’s get you out of those clothes.” 

“What?!” Lucy exclaimed as she blushed and moved away from him. 

He cocked a brow at her, looking from side to side in confusion. “Well it’d be bad if you kept them on, I have some clothes that you can borrow while I put your clothes in the dryer. Unless you want to stay in your wet clothes.” 

“Oh, no-no. It’s fine, thank you. Where should I change?” 

“Well, let me get the clothes first then you can change in the bathroom over there.” 

Hawks disappeared into the hall and into one of the rooms to get some clothes for her. It gave Lucy some time to examine the things in the penthouse. There was an incredibly large flatscreen tv within one of the walls, facing it was a black leather sectional couch with a glass coffee table in front of it. Parallel to the living room was a contemporary staircase that lead to who knows where. Off to the side, she could see that there was a large kitchen/dining area. It was definitely much larger than Shouta’s, not just in the fact that she could tell that multiple people could walk through the kitchen without bumping into each other, but the fact that there was even room for a proper dinner table off to the side. Lucy was staring up at the seemingly endless ceiling when Hawks came back into the room holding a pair of neatly folded clothes in one hand. 

“It’s impressive, isn’t it? That was my first reaction when I saw this place too. It’s definitely a step up from the slums I grew up in that’s for sure.” 

“The slums?” 

Hawks handed her the clothes before continuing, “Yeah, I didn’t exactly grow up with all this wealth, in fact, where I used to live was kind of a dump, but once I started doing hero work that all changed, and here I am now.” 

“Hm, I think I had somewhat of the opposite happen to me.” 

“How so?” 

“Let me change first and then maybe I’ll tell you,” Lucy said poking his nose before going into the bathroom to change. 

The bathroom was just as over the top as the rest of the penthouse. It had a separate bath and shower in the same room and the mirror was almost large enough to reflect all of her life mistakes. The clothes that she had gotten from him turned out to be a large red hoodie with one of the shirts he wore with his hero costume and baggy gym shorts. Stepping out of the bathroom she searched for Hawks, finding him in the kitchen waiting for a bag of popcorn to get done in the microwave. When he noticed her, he looked her up and down and whistled. 

“I think that might just be the sexiest thing I’ve ever seen you wear dove.” 

Lucy blushed but rolled her eyes at his comment, walking over to join him in the kitchen. The microwave beeped signaling the finished popcorn which he carefully removed and placed into a large plastic bowl. Hawks grabbed some before offering the bowl to Lucy who grabbed a few, plopping them into her mouth and savoring the buttery taste. Lucy looked over at Hawks and saw that he had also already changed out of his wet clothes. He was now wearing a simple black t-shirt and bright orange gym shorts. Surprisingly, his wings were also gone, or at least the feathers were. 

“Where’d your wings go?” 

“Hm? Oh, they were wet so I put them out to dry.” 

“Did you put them in the dryer too?” 

“No! They got way too frizzy the last time I did that…” 

Upon hearing that Lucy accidentally inhaled the piece of popcorn she was about to eat causing her to go into a coughing fit. Hawks, ever the hero he was, mistook her coughing for choking and was quickly wrapping his arms around her and pushing with all his might into her. By this point, Lucy had already swallowed the piece of popcorn and was currently dealing with a panicked hero trying to save her from choking on nothing and was instead only succeeding in hurting her midsection. 

“I’m not choking stupid!” 

“What?” 

“I’m not choking, so can you please stop?” 

“Oh. I mean…I knew that, I was just looking for an excuse to hold you tightly.” 

Lucy sweatdropped at him as he nervously scratched the back of his head. Suddenly, Hawks noticed, Lucy’s body went stiff. Looking at her he noticed her face was bright red and her eyes were looking down at something. It wasn’t until he followed her line of vision that he understood why she was so embarrassed. His hand had somehow managed to land on top of her breast, not quite groping, but just on top of it. He knew that he should have just removed his hand immediately after realizing his mistake, but for some reason, he found himself just staring at his hand and the position it was in. Without thinking his hand gave an experimental squeeze to the soft mound of flesh, eliciting a squeak from the female in his hold. His face went pale as he realized what he’d just done, letting go of the blonde and trying to explain himself. At least that’s what he thought he was trying to do before the side of his head whipped to the side from the harsh impact of her hand against his cheek. 

“What are you doing you pervert?!” 

* * *

“What are you doing Nemuri?!” Came the voice of a panicked Present Mic as he watched his childhood friend mix together a disgusting combination of almost every alcohol the bartender had behind the bar. 

The night had started out fairly normal with people coming into the bar and wishing Endeavor a happy birthday before quickly treating themselves to the free drinks. People were chatting idly about random things whether it involved hero work or not and people weren’t getting farther than tipsy for the most part. It wasn’t until someone suggested karaoke that things started getting out of hand. People were going up and then inviting others to go next or to join them, which lead people to drinking more just to get a bit more liquid courage and before anyone could realize what was going on, the bar was filled with more than a bit drunk pro heroes falling over themselves and laughing like idiots. The only people seemingly not drunk or at least not fully drunk were Endeavor, Mic, Shouta, and Ingenium. 

Mic watched in horror as Nemuri forced her unholy amalgamation of alcohol into the already drunk and crying Best Jeanist. Yamada prayed for the fellow pro’s liver and safety as he looked around the bar for a particular person. He found them sitting at the far end of the bar away from everyone else, sipping slowly at what looked to be his fifth mug of beer. Shouta had come slightly late in the night, still in his hero attire, and looking as disheveled as always. He gave Endeavor a halfhearted congratulations before sitting at the bar exactly where he still was currently. He’d been greeted by himself and Nemuri who talked with him on and off throughout the night but Hizashi noted that his friend seemed more distant than usual. He assumed it was because of his lady troubles and left his friend to his thoughts while he talked with the others. He would have thought Shouta would have left by now since he knew how introverted Shouta was, but it seemed the alcohol had won him over this time. Hizashi pulled up a seat next to his sulking friend and threw an arm around him which only granted him a glance from the brunette. 

“Shouta, buddy! How’d the talk with your lady go?” 

“Where’s Hawks?” 

“What?” 

“Hawks. You know, the brat with the chicken quirk or whatever it is.” 

“He was out today so we couldn’t get ahold of him to invite him. Why do you ask?” 

Honestly, Hizashi was surprised that Shouta brought up the young hero. He was the type of guy who usually didn’t mention other pro heroes besides himself and Nemuri outside of business. It was even rarer for him to even acknowledge Hawks. He remembered when the young pro had made it all over the news for being the first pro to open his own agency at 18 and break into the top ten shortly afterward. All without ever attending UA. When Hizashi told him about it, the most he ever did was grunt out a response or change the subject entirely. But now, not only was Shouta acknowledging him but questioning his whereabouts as well. Something wasn’t right. 

“Do you think he’s with her?” 

“With who?” 

“Do you think they’re out there having sex and other atrocities I can’t even think of?!” 

“Woah, Woah, Woah! What are you even talking about?” 

“Hawks with Lucy. What if they’re out there building nests for their weird bird family that they’re planning on having. It’s only been a day since I said I wasn’t interested and she’s already out there drooling over his god-awful khaki suit while he flexes his feathers or whatever it is women see in that duck.” 

Hizashi just stared at his friend who took another long swig of his beer and slammed it down on the counter. Even though Shouta’s voice and demeanor hadn’t changed, he was speaking so quickly and intensely that Hizashi had trouble keeping up. It was well known among Aizawa’s friends about how he could get when he was drunk, even though it might seem that Aizawa didn’t get drunk based on his demeanor despite how many drinks he’d downed, it was easy to tell if he was intoxicated since he would start talking about nonsense and mistaking inanimate objects for people. 

“Is this about that girl you’re living with? If you rejected her why are you so jealous if she’s seeing Hawks? Why would she be with Hawks anyway? Have you seen them together or something?” 

“No, but I know she’s out there with him. She won’t answer my calls or texts and there was one of his feathers outside my apartment yesterday. It’s not fair, I just wanted to get to know her before I decided if we should date or not, but she immediately goes and throws herself at the first pro she sees.” 

“Um, Shouta I think you need to- “ 

“No. I have to go and confront her about it, I’m gonna tell her exactly what I think about all of this.” 

“Shouta wait! You can’t just go out like that, you’re drunk!” 

“No, I’m not, I can get home just fine Zashi!” 

“Shouta you’re talking to a pillar!” 

“Shaddup, I’m leaving.” 

Hizashi watched as his friend walked out into the rainy night, knocking into various tables and people on the way there. He was about to follow after him when he was grabbed from behind by a very drunk Midnight holding another cup of her vile concoction. 

Shouta stumbled his way out of the bar, immediately being assaulted by the rain and wind as he tried to figure out his way home. Pulling out his phone he clumsily searched for Lucy’s number. Upon finding it he typed out a message to her before walking into some trash cans. Cursing at himself he carried on his way home ignoring the concerned and slightly frightened stares of the people around him. 

* * *

Meanwhile, Lucy and Hawks were lying on his bed watching a random movie that he’d picked out. After his little groping debacle that left him with a red cheek and her with a red face, they’d laughed it off and decided to watch a movie while they waited for the rain to pass. Lucy had her head on his lap while he was sat up and stroking her hair. He’d occasionally make a funny comment about the movie which she would giggle at and sometimes have her own retort to his comments. Eventually, Lucy found her eyes growing heavy, enjoying the feeling of his fingers running through her hair and sometimes grazing the back of her neck. 

“Are you gonna tell me about what you were talking about earlier dove?” 

“Hm? What was I talking about?” 

“About your past, dove. I’ve told you about mine now you tell me about you. It’s only fair right?” 

“Oh yeah. It’s nothing interesting, I grew up in a rich family, but I wanted something more, so I ran away and joined my guild. Now I’m struggling to make rent but at least I’m happy for the most part.” 

“You sound like one of those Disney princesses who want more despite already having everything.” 

“But they didn’t have everything and neither did I,” Lucy said bringing her hand up to tap the side of his face in a half-hearted slap. 

“Oh? Then tell me, princess, what didn’t you have?” 

“A choice.” 

Before Hawks could ask her what she meant by that her phone went off and Lucy sat up to read the message that she’d received. It was a text from Shouta. Lucy didn’t know if she wanted to read it or not especially since she was with Hawks, but it might be something important, so she decided to read it. 

_Shouta: Im Cm ing Hom e_

____

____

Lucy stared blankly at the message for a second before making a sound of confusion which didn’t go unnoticed by the bird beside her. Squinting, she brought the phone closer to her face as if it would somehow help her decipher the amalgamation of letters that was on the screen before she realized that Shouta was trying to tell her he was coming home. Panicking she jumped out of the bed before telling Hawks that she had to go home immediately. 

“What? Why? It’s still raining outside.” 

“My roommate is on his way home, so I have to get home right now!” 

“You know I don’t see why you’re so panicked, it’s not like he’s forbidding you from going out.” 

“Maybe not but I still don’t want him getting angry if he does find out.” 

“Why would he get angry?” 

“I don’t know! I just…have a feeling that he would.” 

Hawks stared at her with an unreadable expression, eyes half-lidded, and lips pressed into a flat line before he sighed. “You’re dating him, aren’t you?” 

“What?” 

“That’s why you’re panicked, isn’t it? You’re worried that he’s gonna find out you’re seeing other men behind his back and kick you out, right?” 

“No! I swear we’re not dating, that isn’t what this is about!” 

“Then what is it? Why are you so afraid of him finding out you’ve been gone? Is he hurting you? If he is then you can tell me, it’s my job as a hero to help people in need whether it’s a villain attack or domestic abuse, I’ll do whatever I can to help you.” 

“He’s not abusing me! I just…I’m afraid of what he’ll think.” 

“Of what he’ll think?” 

“The truth is he’s been nothing but kind to me since I got here, sure he sometimes treats me like a child, and he reminds me too much of my father at times but he’s still such a generous person. I’m afraid that he’ll think I’m just using him if he finds out I’ve been leaving without his permission and also because of how I’ve been acting around him lately, I don’t want to lose any part of him, not his body or his trust or his relationship. It might not make any sense to you and I’m having a hard time explaining it, but I just feel it strongly in my heart.” 

Hawks wrapped his arms around the blonde burying his face in her neck before letting out a muffled laugh. Lucy was confused as she just allowed him to hold her, with how close he was she could smell his cologne, it smelled like something spicy and warm like black pepper and cinnamon but she didn’t have time to enjoy his smell as she tried to pull away from him. 

“You let things get to your head a lot don’t you dove?” 

“Huh?” 

“It’d be really foolish of him to hate you for something like this and if he does then you need to find better friends and roommates. This guy clearly means a lot to you, so he must be a great person. Hopefully, I’ll mean that much to you one day, until then we should get you home.” 

Hawks pulled away from her before giving her a half-smile and walking out of the room to get their clothes. Lucy stared at him sadly, clutching his sweater and thinking about not just their relationship, but hers and Shouta’s as well. Things were getting messy, she knew, and she knew that the weight that she felt on her shoulders was probably only going to get heavier until she did something. What that something was, she didn’t know but what she did know was that this was getting more out of hand than what she bargained for and if she didn’t do something soon, she wouldn’t be the only one with emotional problems by the end of it. 

Luckily, their clothes were dry by then and Lucy wouldn’t have to go home in Hawks’ oversized clothes. What wasn’t so lucky was the fact that Hawks wouldn’t be able to fly them back to the apartment like last time. Mainly because it was raining, for one they would’ve gotten wet all over again and two, Hawks’ wings could only get so wet before he couldn’t fly anymore. So instead they walked, umbrella covering the both of them as they walked at a quick pace back to the apartment complex. Hawks did end up lending her one of his zip-up hoodies to wear while they walked since he didn’t want her getting sick which Lucy didn’t object to, she hated the cold quite a lot and she didn’t want to risk getting Shouta sick if she caught a cold. 

It was a slightly long walk, but they had made it back in good time, and from what Lucy could see Shouta wasn’t home yet. She breathed a sigh of relief before apologizing to Hawks for the sudden panic and for having to cut their date short for a second time. 

“Don’t worry about it dove, but can you please tell your roommate about us this time? I’d like to spend a whole day with you next time without being interrupted and feeling like we’re, some high school couple hiding our relationship from your parents.” 

Lucy blushed at his analogy, pulling the hoodie up to cover her face from view. Hawks laughed at her failed attempt at hiding, patting her head before pulling her close to his body. 

“If you wanna make it up to me though, I have an idea of what you can do.” 

“W-what might that be?” 

“You interrupted me last time, dove and unfortunately I have to get back to hero work starting tomorrow so I won’t be able to see your cute face for a really long time. So, how about you bring that cute face here for a second?” 

Lucy blushed as Hawks placed a hand on her warm cheek and pulled her face closer to his. She could hear her heartbeat in her ears, which felt like they were on fire and it only became more intense the closer he got. A small voice at the back of her head was telling her to pull away and to just hurry and get inside while another was telling her to just let it happen. She was having a hard time deciding which to do before she felt his warm breath against her face. 

Just before his lips could meet hers, she turned her head feeling his lips make contact with her cheek. She almost felt bad as he lingered there for a second before pulling back, he gave her another fun-loving smile, ruffling her hair from under the hood and walking out of the complex. Lucy remained in the rain for a second, staring at the place where he had just stood almost wishing he could have stayed longer. But she didn’t give herself time to dwell on the thought before she hurried inside. 

Just as she thought, the apartment was completely empty and quiet, feeling almost cold and she wished she could have stayed in Hawks’ penthouse longer. Taking out her phone she looked at Shouta’s message again from earlier. It had been 20 minutes since it was sent. Surely, he would have gotten home by now, right? A sense of fear welled up in her stomach as the thought that Shouta had made it home only to find her gone crossed her mind. What if he’d gone out to find her? What if something bad happened to him? She bit on her thumb nail as she tried to figure out what to do. She could wait here just in case he did get home and it was just a matter of him getting caught in the rain that made him late. Or she could go out and try to find him. Lucy argued with herself before looking at the message again. Was he drunk when he sent the text? If so a number of things could have happened to him by now. But Shouta was such a logic-driven person there was no way he would have just let himself walk home drunk right? Lucy paced around the room before she looked at the clock. 11 pm, Shouta would have been home by now. 

Taking a deep breath, Lucy pulled the hoodie over her head and walked out the door once again. She looked up what bars were close by, cursing under her breath as she saw that there were quite a few within the area, mustering up her courage she started on her way to the nearest one. 

After a while Lucy didn’t know how long she’d been out, she’d already stopped by five different bars and asked if anyone had seen Shouta or “Eraserhead” as she’d told them. They all came out negative with the latest one giving her a concerned look upon seeing her trembling and wet state. He apologized and offered her a drink to warm her up at least but she had declined and quickly made her way out. She wanted to cry the more aimlessly she wandered around, getting a few lecherous looks from some of the men who were still out this time of night, but she trudged on despite how hopeless this was all beginning to seem. She was getting closer to the sixth bar when she stopped and leaned against a wall, her feet were beginning to hurt and the jacket she was wearing had soaked through a long time ago. She looked at her wet phone screen, going back to his text yet again. She blinked back tears as she sucked up her courage and pressed the call button. She heard it ring, once, twice, and by the third, she was sent to voice mail. She wanted to throw the phone against a wall as she turned around wanting to go home already and get out of this rain, out of this town, this country, she wanted home more than ever now. But above even home, she found, she wanted Shouta more. She wanted him to be safe and warm. She had made it down the block before she called again. Once it got to the second ring, she thought that she would finally lose all hope, but something stopped her. 

A noise. 

It was faint and for a second, she thought she had misheard it but when she called again the noise returned. Her senses went into overdrive as she hurried to where she thought the sound was coming from. She had to call four more times before the sound was finally close enough that she was practically next to it. What she saw when she turned her head made her almost drop her phone. 

Shouta was slumped over, unconscious, and soaked to the bone. He was pale and his lips looked faintly blue. Lucy was next to him in an instant, shaking his cold body and noticing the strong scent of alcohol that came from him. 

“Shouta! Shouta say something, please! You’re gonna be okay now Shouta!” 

Lucy felt as warm tears slid down her face, she held him close to her chest rubbing his arm in a pitiful attempt to get some kind of warmth onto his freezing body. She summoned out Horologium before hurriedly placing Shouta inside of the spirit and making her way home as fast as she could. She didn’t care about the odd looks she got from people as she ran by, the clock spirit following closely behind, the only thing that mattered to her right now was Shouta and making sure he didn’t die. 

Once they were back inside the apartment Lucy thanked the spirit before unsummoning him and taking Shouta back into her arms, discarding the jacket she was wearing. He was warmer now than he had been in the alley thanks to Horologium, but he was still wet and slightly cold. She hurriedly got to work removing his clothes as carefully as she could. She didn’t have time to think about how embarrassing this was, as she began to strip him bare leaving him exposed. Quickly she rushed to find as many blankets and towels as could and hurriedly began placing them over his naked body. She gently placed his head in her lap as she began to dry his hair, knowing it was going to be wet for a while if she didn’t start drying it immediately. As she was rubbing the towel through his hair, she looked at his unconscious face. The color had returned to him and his breathing was steady, if she hadn’t just spent the past hour looking for him and trying to save him from hypothermia, she’d think he was just sleeping. She felt as tears pricked her eyes again before she broke into a sob. She’d almost lost him. If she’d chosen to stay home or leave when she thought it was hopeless, she really would have lost him. Before she knew it, she was sobbing uncontrollably over him clutching him close to her chest and trembling. 

“What are you crying about kitten?” 

Her crying stopped as a warm, yet rough hand came up to caress her cheek. Looking down she saw that Shouta’s tired, bloodshot eyes were looking back at her. Breathlessly, she called out his name before embracing him again and crying into his bare chest. 

“God kid, you’re freezing. What happened to you?” 

“You almost died, that’s what happened! I was so worried, Shouta! I thought- I thought you were gone, I thought you’d left me too!” 

Shouta stared down at the sobbing mess of a girl on his chest and a feeling of guilt washed over him. His head hurt and he felt dizzy. What happened to him? The last he remembered he had gotten to the bar and ordered a drink, talking lightly with Hizashi and Nemuri, he ordered another drink while he was talking with them and before he knew it he ordered another and another until he couldn’t remember what happened afterward or when and why he left. He’d have to ask Hizashi about it tomorrow, but for now, he wanted to comfort the blonde mage who was falling apart on top of him. He pet her head, fingering the damp strands of blonde hair between his fingers. Did she go out to find him? A warmth spread through his chest as he pulled her up to look at him. Her eyes were puffy and red emphasized by her pale skin which was still cold from the rain. 

“Like I could ever leave my kitty here all by herself. I don’t think I’d ever be able to forgive myself if I did that. She needs me too much for us to separate just yet. Isn’t that right? My good kitten.” 

Sitting up he pulled her to him, making her straddle his lap as he pressed kisses into her crying face wherever he could. Right now, it didn’t matter what arguments they’d had before or what agreements they’d made, they needed each other. Needed to feel the other as closely as possible and know that they were safe and alive. Shouta ran his hand up and down her back stopping when he felt her bra clasp and began mindlessly fiddling with it. Her body was shaking but she had stopped crying now. He didn’t know if she was shaking because she was emotional or because she was cold, either way she was pressing her freezing body against his tight enough that he could feel her heartbeat against him. Lucy suddenly jerked her head away from him and let out a small squeak of a sneeze into her arm. Aizawa chuckled at her causing her to blush, although he didn’t know if it was because she was getting sick or because she was embarrassed. 

“You shouldn’t stay in those clothes kitten, we’re already going to have enough sick people around here with me, it’d be a shame if both of us couldn’t be of any help.” 

“We should probably get ready for bed first then, shouldn’t we?” 

“Yeah, I guess we should.” 

Lucy helped Aizawa to stand as she led him to the bathroom still wrapped in a blanket. They brushed their teeth before Lucy gave him some aspirin from the cabinet which he took gratefully. They made it back to his room where Lucy sat him down on his bed, bidding him goodnight before she turned to leave. Before she could even walk a step out of the room, she was stopped by Shouta grabbing her wrist. 

“I’m still cold.” 

“Do you need another blanket?” 

“I heard that body heat is a good way to warm up, so it’d only be logical since we’re both so cold.” 

Lucy blushed but sat next to him on the bed, “I suppose I have no choice then, after all it’s only logical.” 

Aizawa moved his hand up her thigh to her waist where her shirt was still tucked into her shorts and thumbed at the material for a second before looking up at her for permission. She gave a shy nod before he pulled at it gently, untucking it from its denim confines. Lucy raised her arms up making it easier for him to remove it from her, blushing as he stared at the white and pink lace bra she had underneath. He pulled her to him again, burying his face in the nape of her neck as he ran his fingers over her sides, enjoying the feeling of her smooth, cool skin under his touch. She giggled the higher up he went and Shouta couldn’t help but smirk into her shoulder at how ticklish she was. His hand grazed the side of her breast and her breath hitched, holding onto him as he went to toy with the clasp of her bra. He stopped, sensing her discomfort, but Lucy reassured him, and he went back to his task, unlatching her bra in one foul swoop. Head still buried in her shoulder, he pulled the bra off her shoulders and threw it with her shirt somewhere on the floor. Shouta wondered if she could hear his heartbeat with how loud it was hammering in his ribcage upon feeling her bare chest pressed against his. He felt like a schoolboy again with how embarrassed he was suddenly feeling, he knew it shouldn’t be this awkward since they’d already seen each other naked before, but this felt different, somehow more intimate than what they’d done the first time they met. As much as he was trying not to look, he knew he had to once he undid the button on her shorts. Sucking in a breath he pulled away from her and lied her back on the bed. Lucy covered herself with her hands as Shouta made his way down, she lifted her hips slightly and Aizawa pulled her damp shorts off her legs. Now only one article of clothing stood between them and Shouta could only stare at the thin fabric covering her most private area. Gulping, he carefully peeled the lacy fabric down and before he knew it, she was laid bare before him. 

Everything in his body was telling him to do the obvious and claim the woman before him like he had the first time, but he refused to give into temptation again. Instead he shifted them both under the blanket and pressed himself tightly against her. She felt small and cool in his grasp and he slightly hoped that his body hair wasn’t too bothersome. Instead, he felt her adjust herself into a more comfortable position, placing her head under his chin as he felt her kiss his Adam’s apple. Her breathing evened out shortly after and Shouta felt jealous of her ability to fall asleep so easily. Jealous that her thoughts weren’t plaguing her and keeping her awake like his were. His mind kept rewinding his time at the bar, trying to figure out what had happened after his fourth drink. He couldn’t remember his thoughts or what he’d said but he could remember the feeling, the feeling of being angry. At what? The more he tried to remember the more tired his brain grew until he felt himself teetering between the fine line of slumber and awareness. He wanted answers but his body begged for sleep until he was hanging on by a thread. Maybe slumber _was _what he needed, and, in the morning, he would get to the bottom of this mystery, that is if he could even wake up tomorrow with how horrible he knew he was going to feel. Shouta let out a last sigh as he allowed sleep to claim him, letting out a silent promise to never drink again.__

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! Welcome to another episode of, this is basically a soap opera. This chapter took longer to publish than I thought it would and I apologize for keeping you waiting but hopefully this chapter is to your liking. As some of you noticed I published another story while this chapter was in progress and thank you to those who left kudos on that one as well. It's a one shot LucyxHawks story for those of you that haven't read it and thank you to xxxMysticKxxx for for giving me the idea to write a separate story for them. I might do more of those in the future and I'm willing to take suggestions for more bnha characters x Lucy if you guys would want that. I'd also be willing to go outside of bnha but only if I'm familiar with the character/anime. Let me know what you guys think in the comments about the chapter and the idea, I'm always happy to reply. Until next chapter, thank you for reading. :)


	10. Sick Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shouta takes a sick day and Present Mic pays a visit

Just as Shouta predicted, he felt like hell when he woke up again the next day. His mouth felt dry, his head was pounding, his throat was sore, his nose felt stuffed, and his body hurt. He let out a groan as he turned on his side, growing irritated at the sunlight coming through the window. He knew that there was no way he’d be able to make it to work today and possibly tomorrow… or the day after. Honestly Shouta didn’t know when he’d ever be able to go back to work with how awful he was feeling. Right now, he doubted he’d ever get better and his day had barely even started. His stomach grumbled and Shouta cursed knowing that he’d have to get up and eat something soon, but his body felt so awful he doubted he could even stand up. Luckily, he didn’t have to, as at that moment as if she could sense his distress Lucy showed up with a tray holding food and other things he couldn’t make out from where he was laying. He shifted over slightly as she set the tray on the bed, next to him. She gave him a gentle smile as she put a hand on his forehead.  


“Good morning, how are you feeling?”  


“Awful,” his voice came out rougher than usual and was followed by a coughing fit. Lucy helped him sit up and grabbed the glass of water from the tray. He gulped it down thankfully, grateful to finally get some moisture into his mouth. He looked over at Lucy who was retrieving something else from the tray. While she looked better than what he imagined he did right now, he could tell she hadn’t made it out of last night unscathed either. She had noticeable bags under her eyes and a slight flush to her face, particularly around her nose. She had probably just gotten a cold but at least she wasn’t anywhere near his level of sick. She was wearing a pale blue zip up fleece hoodie with cloud designs and plain grey sweatpants. Even when she was sick, he thought she looked cute, but he didn’t have time to stare as she brought a thermometer up to his mouth. He opened his mouth, placing it under his tongue as they waited for it to beep. Lucy took his hair tie off of the nightstand and motioned for him to lean his head forward. He did and she gathered up his hair tying it into a simple ponytail, he sighed in relief as it did help in making him feel less hot and it got his hair out of his face. The thermometer beeped and Lucy took it out of his mouth checking the screen.  


“108.5,” Lucy said placing the thermometer down.  


“How are you feeling?” Shouta asked leaning back against the headboard. Deep down he was glad that she was at least talking to him again, though there was still a slight tension that he couldn’t quite place the reason behind. Was it still from their argument? Or was it from last night? Maybe it was even a mixture of both, but his head hurt too much to think about it.  


“I could be better, just a slight cold, I didn’t almost die of hypothermia at least.”  


“It’s not like I wanted to, you know.”  


“And yet it still happened. What were you even thinking leaving by yourself in a storm while drunk?”  


“That’s what I want to know just as much as you do kid. But if I remembered than I wouldn’t have been drunk, now would I?”  


Their conversation was interrupted by Shouta’s phone ringing on the nightstand, looking over he sighed seeing it was Hizashi. Shouta pressed his finger to his lips and answered the phone.  


“Hello?”  


“Oh, thank god you’re alive. Man, you sound like hell, are you ok man?”  


“No, no I’m not. Apparently, I got hypothermia last night from being in the rain for too long.”  


“Damn, I knew I should have followed after you when I saw you leave. Did you at least get home safe?”  


“Yeah I did. But can you tell me what happened last night? I can’t remember a thing after I ordered my fourth drink.”  


“Alright, but you might wanna be alone and sat down for this one. You went on a major tangent and made some plans I’m not sure if you went through with.”  


Shouta pressed his hand to the mic before quietly asking Lucy if she could leave for a moment. She gave him a curious look, but complied nonetheless, getting up and shutting the door behind her. Shouta took his hand off the mic before telling Hizashi to continue. He heard a shuffling on the other end of the phone before Hizashi continued.  


“Alright man here’s what happened; I went over to you and saw that you were on like your fifth drink. I asked you how the talk with Lucy went but all you did was ask me where Hawks was. I told you he wasn’t there, and you went on this long rant about how you thought that he and Lucy were dating or sleeping together or something and that you were gonna confront Lucy about it. After that you left, and I wanted to go with you, but Midnight held me back. I don’t know what happened to you after that.”  


Shouta groaned and rubbed his face with his hand. He didn’t remember any of that, but he did remember the talk with Midnight and the feather that he found in the bush. Did he really go on a long rant to Mic about it? God, he hoped that no one else in the bar had heard him. Especially not Midnight, she’d have a field day if she ever found out about this. At least now he knew why he was feeling so angry. But it also reminded him of what he wanted to do. He had to at least ask Lucy about it, no matter how silly or illogical it sounded, he needed answers and he wasn’t just going to put it off. Not when he had the perfect opportunity to do so presented right in front of him.  


“Shouta?”  


“Yeah, thanks for telling me. I also won’t be able to come into work today and possibly tomorrow; I feel like hell.”  


“Alright I’ll make sure to tell them. But Shouta?”  


“What is it?”  


“Is everything okay with you? I mean with Lucy and all?”  


“It’s…complicated. I can’t really talk about it right now.”  


“Oh, ok. But if you need anything, I’m here for you, just know that. I have to get back to work now but I’ll check up on you later.”  


“Alright, but Mic?”  


“Yeah?”  


“How do you know her name?”  


He heard a muffled laugh on the other side of the phone, “You told me what it was when you went on that rant. Honestly, I’m surprised I even still remember it.”  


Shouta just grunted a response before they said their goodbye’s and hung up. He added that to the list of reasons why he was never going to drink again before looking at the door. He didn’t know how he was supposed to tell Lucy she could come back in, but at least he could now take the time to think about things while he ate. He began to question his decision to ask her, he didn’t want to cause anymore tension between them if he did decide to do so. Why did it even matter to him anyway? He had laid out what he thought and what he expected clearly when they had their talk the previous night. He had blatantly said that he wasn’t looking for a romantic relationship with her and he wasn’t. At least, not at the moment. Not when their relationship was still so new and yet so tense. And yet he goes, and he does things like what he did last night. Stripping her, kissing her, sleeping in the same bed naked with her. It was all so contradictory, and he didn’t know what was making him so impulsive lately.  


He says he doesn’t want anything romantic but then something inside of him can’t help but want her close. Want her pressed against him, kissing him, just being near him. But was that love? No, it was lust. There was a part of him that lusted after the girl in the next room ever since they’d slept together in their first official meeting. But these types of feelings were best if it was just something like a one-night stand or a friends with benefits situation, not a long-term romantic relationship. But how could he tell her that? _‘Hey, I don’t like you romantically, but I want nothing more than to pound you into the mattress for the rest of my life?’ _that would make anyone feel terrible. Plus, it would probably make her think that he saw her as nothing more than a piece of meat. Which he didn’t. He thought that there was a lot to like about her. Her cooking, her kindness, her cute reactions to things, how gentle she was, how emotional she was. But he knew that there had to be more to her, more that he didn’t know about because he rarely saw her. But who knows? Maybe that could change these next few days. He didn’t exactly have much to do now that he was sick, this could be a perfect time. That is if she didn’t hate him if he asked her about Hawks.  
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A knock sounded at the door and Lucy creaked open the door, poking her head in. He felt a tension in his chest build as she came in with a small smile on her face. He had to do it, he just had to. It was now or never. He just had to rip it off like a bandage. What’s the worst that could happen?  


“Are you done with your- “  


“Are you dating Hawks?”  


Lucy looked taken aback at his question, her body went stiff and her lips formed into a tight line.  


“No.”  


He felt an odd sense of relief in his chest when she said that, “Oh, ok. Just forget I said- “  


“We’ve only been on two dates and our last one ended weird. But I don’t know if I’d call it dating.”  


He suddenly went into another coughing fit after her answer. Was she actually serious? She was who was seen around with Hawks lately? Sure, he spent an entire day thinking about it and went on a drunk tangent about how he thought they were dating, but he didn’t think it’d actually be true. Lucy handed him the glass of water again which he drank down between coughs. There was only one question circling around in his head now and it was the only thing that he thought to ask her next.  


“How?”  


Lucy sat down on the floor next to him and sighed looking tired and nervous as she fiddled with the strings on her sweater. She opened her mouth as if to say something but then immediately closed it again. It was as if she were trying to find the words to speak but just couldn’t get them out or just didn’t know what to say. She closed her eyes and leaned her head back before clearing her throat.  


“I’d first just like to say I’m sorry.”  


“For what?”  


“I left the house without asking you multiple times, that was wrong of me and I shouldn’t have done it.”  


He wanted to laugh at how she was sounding. It sounded so, automated. Like she was reading it off a page. As if she were being forced to apologize to a higher up or a teacher was forcing her to read out her written apology to a student.  


“Hey, I never said you couldn’t leave. But I do wish you would have told me before you left.”  


“Like I said, I’m sorry. It was during my first time going out that I met him. During the villain attack that happened around here, he saved me after I was almost attacked, he recognized my guildmark and offered to take me out to eat to get to know me better. Afterward he showed me around and flew me home then he asked if he could see me again the next day. Yesterday we went on another date, but we had to cancel early because of your text. That’s about it really.”  


“Do you…like him?”  


“Yeah, I guess I do. He’s been really kind to me since I met him and he seems to like me as well, he’s a fun guy to hang around.”  


“But do you…love him?”  


Lucy furrowed her brow and gave him an almost annoyed look, “I barely know him, but I wouldn’t say no if he asked me to be his girlfriend if that’s what you’re asking.”  


Aizawa felt something hurt within his chest when he heard her say that. Even though he knew it probably shouldn’t, it did. “Are you going to see him again?”  


“Probably not anytime this week, he said he was going to go back to his hero duties starting today but he didn’t tell me when he would have another day off. Besides even if he did ask, I can’t just leave you like this, you can barely move.”  


Aizawa wanted to feel relief at her words, wanted to feel positively knowing that she would choose him over Hawks, but he didn’t. Because she was doing this out of necessity, not because he meant something to her. She had no other option but to spend time with him, if given the chance she would probably leave him all the same. At least that’s what he told himself. Maybe it was for the best that she see someone like Hawks. They were closer in age so he could probably relate to her better when it came to certain things. Hawks apparently knew about her guild, at least enough to ask her about it and he was interesting enough to get her to agree to another date with him. Unlike him, Aizawa knew that he wasn’t the best conversationalist, his friends could attest to that, and he found it hard to be the one to start the conversation at times. He didn’t know how to talk to people, it was part of the reason why he hated the media so much. But for Hawks it didn’t seem to be a problem. He was always surrounded by people and was a camera darling to the nth degree. The media loved him, and people always wanted to talk to him. Shouta wasn’t him, not because he couldn’t, but because he wouldn’t.  


“Shouta? Are you okay?”  


Aizawa blinked, not even realizing that he’d spaced out. Lucy was kneeling beside him with a concern look on her face. He felt his throat go dry. No, she wasn’t just here because she had no other option, she was here because she wanted to be. Because she was kind, because she cared. Hawks or no Hawks, she would’ve stayed regardless. He lifted up a hand to weakly pet her slightly messy hair.  


“Yeah, just a bit sick is all, kitten.”  


He saw as her already blushed face turned a shade or two darker and her eyes fell, unable to meet his gaze. He faintly smiled at her reaction, despite her dates with Hawks it was clear that there was still something that she felt for Aizawa. She slightly fumbled as she took away the tray of eaten food to the kitchen, trying to ignore how irregular her heartbeat was feeling. She felt sick to her stomach and it wasn’t because of her illness. She felt sick because of herself. First, she sleeps with Aizawa, then goes on two dates with Hawks, then sleeps in the same bed naked with Aizawa, all within the same week. This was more romantic drama than she’d ever experienced in her whole life. Shouta hadn’t reacted the way she’d expected, he wasn’t mad and he didn’t threaten to kick her out. Instead, he seemed weirdly calm about the whole situation. Maybe he really didn’t want anything with her. But his reaction last night made her think otherwise. He’d stripped her for Mavis’ sake! And she’d let him! She wanted to feel dirty for what she was doing. Hawks was such a nice guy and he was the most normal person she’d met in a long time, not to mention he was clear with his feelings. He wanted something with her, and he didn’t make it complicated, he was simple, he was safe, he was the type of guy she’d dreamed of dating for so long. So why wasn’t she eagerly accepting his advances and planning their wedding already? What was it about the man in the next room that had her second guessing her safe bet and instead had her heading down a complicated road of uncertainty? She couldn’t explain it, it was almost magnetic what she was feeling. She wanted to be close, inseparable from him. But what did he want?  


Lucy stared at the bowl of water in front of her that she had been filling up. She didn’t want to lead Hawks on, but she didn’t want to lose him if Aizawa really didn’t want anything with her, she didn’t want to lose him in any regard. But could they really be friends if she rejected him? Don’t those usually end up really awkward? Lucy sighed before she placed a face towel into the bowl and carefully carried it to Shouta’s room. Shouta seemed to be spaced out again and his body flinched when he felt the wet towel against his forehead. Shouta turned his head to look at her and it took everything in her power not to stare back at him. His face was flushed and there were a few beads of sweat that made their way down his neck. With his hair tied back the way that it was, he looked prettier than she’d ever seen him before, and she hoped he couldn’t tell how embarrassed she was as she dabbed the wet cloth along his forehead.  


“Tell me about you.”  


“Huh?”  


“Tell me about you, absolutely everything and don’t leave anything out.”  


Lucy stopped her actions for a second, she let out a breathy laugh. He did say he wanted to get to know her better before he decided if he wanted anything with her. Maybe this was his way of finding out or maybe he was just bored and wanted to do something to pass the time. Either way she was happy to indulge him. Before she knew it, she was telling him about everything she’d told Hawks, if not more. Meeting Natsu, Mt. Hakobe, Duke Everlue, Lullaby, Galuna Island, Phantom Lord, The Tower of Heaven, The Oracion Seis, Edolas, Tenrou, The Infinity Clock, The Grand Magic Games, Eclipse, The Sun Village, and Tartaros. It all just flowed out of her mouth seamlessly like it had only happened yesterday. She took breaks in between her stories to help Shouta with smaller tasks as well as feeding him. He intently listened to all of her stories and gave his occasional input as well as asking questions that she was more than happy to answer. By the end of it Shouta was wide eyed at her life story. She’d already been to hell and back and yet she remained in good spirits throughout it all. She’d been kidnapped, tortured, embarrassed, sent to different worlds, lost loved ones, gained new friends, saved someone from death, almost died, watched herself die, changed the future, survived dragons, talked with ghosts, lost a family and gained a family, all before she was even 20. And yet by the end of it she was laughing. She was laughing at how much fun she had and how happy she was to have met all the people that she had. Even if it was painful on occasion, she always had someone to turn to, someone to support her and keep her going, making it all worth it.  


He looked at her, with her small frail body that didn’t look like it could hurt a fly and he realized that she was possibly the strongest person he’d ever met. Her life made his look boring in comparison, heck it made almost everyone he knows lives look boring in comparison. How was he supposed to relate to anything that she’d experienced?  


“Geez kid, now my story is going to look really boring now.”  


Lucy laughed at his comment but encouraged him to continue. She knew that the life she’d lived wasn’t exactly typical, but she actually thought that hers wasn’t much of anything compared to her guildmates. She wasn’t enslaved at a young age, or raised by dragons, or had her family killed by a demon, she wasn’t shunned by the people. She wasn’t born or trained to have strong magic like so many of her friends did, to her she was just boring old Lucy. But she was curious, what was life like for quirk users? How did they find out about their quirks? Did they have idols? What was their training like? Lucy rested her chin in the palms of her hands as she leaned forward, intently listening to what Shouta had to say.  


“Well I grew up with two parents, which is more than I can say for some people. They were supportive, if not a bit strict and I mostly got my quirk from my mothers side. I found out about my quirk when I was six years old, which is a bit later than some people but hey it’s better than nothing. I first found out about it when I was at school, someone’s quirk had gotten out of hand and they were completely wrecking the classroom, but the teachers didn’t want to risk hurting him or someone else, so they didn’t know what to do. They were trying to keep us out of the classroom, but we were all trying to look inside, as soon as I caught a glimpse of him, I felt it in my eyes, and the boy was left on the ground unable to use his quirk. The staff was confused at first but once they found out it was me, they thanked me profusely and that was the first time I was encouraged to become a hero. I had a pretty normal preteen life and by whatever luck I managed to get into UA.”  


“What’s UA?”  


“It’s the number one hero school in Japan. It’s difficult to get admitted into but if you do manage to get accepted there’s a high chance that you’ll make it as a hero. Almost every single one of Japan’s top heroes has graduated from there.”  


“Are you a top hero?”  


Shouta laughed but it soon became another coughing fit as he held up a tissue to his mouth and beat at his chest. “Hardly, but like I said, I’m more of an underground hero and I prefer it that way.”  


“What was it like at UA?”  


Aizawa paused, an unreadable look crossed his features. He looked at the sky that was starting to dim, through the blinds. He cleared his throat before he answered.  


“Difficult. But it had its nice moments, if you asked me to relive it, I’d probably say no. But that’s not to say it was complete hell. I somehow managed to worm my way into the hero course despite my average performance at the time. If it’s one thing that I have to criticize, it’s that it’s difficult for students that don’t have an offensive quirk to get by when it comes to battle. I had to learn a lot about how to balance out my weaknesses and my strengths, it’s how I came up with the creation of my capture weapon. But for a long time, I thought that the chances of me becoming a hero were slim if not nonexistent.”  


"That’s really depressing Shouta,” Lucy said as an aura of sadness suddenly surrounded her.  


“Hey, I said it wasn’t all bad. I had friends that kept me going throughout that time. Yamada, Kayama and… Shirakumo.”  


Lucy didn’t miss the lull in his voice or the way his tone changed when he said the name. Lucy remembered the photo, of Shouta and his friends. Two were missing, but, she guessed, only one was truly gone. She didn’t push him to continue, only waited in silence for what he would do next. For a moment she wondered if he had spaced out again when he hadn’t said or done anything for about a minute. Timidly she placed a hand over his, rubbing the back of his hand with her thumb. He looked down at their hands before looking at her with a confused expression.  


“You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to. I’m not going to force you to open up to a stranger but, I don’t want you to think I’d turn you away if you do decide to say something. Even if I’m not sure where I stand with you, I consider you a friend Shouta. And I’d never turn away a friend when they needed me, I wouldn’t be a Fairy Tail wizard if I did that.”  


Shouta didn’t say anything, only looked down at the pink mark that decorated her hand. At its strange design that he still wasn’t entirely sure what it was yet, but gently he grazed a finger over it and pondered. He wondered if all guilds were like hers, so welcoming and familial. So eager to help out fellow members with open arms and ready to protect each other at the drop of a hat. So different from what he’d heard that mages were supposed to be. Mages were supposed to be arrogant and selfish, only looking to benefit themselves while looking down on anyone that wasn’t on the same level. Inhumane, mages were monsters that had the power of the world at their fingertips. Mages never struggled, never knew what it was to suffer the way that quirk users did.  


Mages were cold.  


Grabbing her wrist, Aizawa pulled her up to him, burying his face in the warm skin of her neck.  


Mages didn’t care.  


Lucy placed a gentle hand to the back of his head, her other rubbed soothingly along his trembling back. Not caring about the scratchiness of his stubble or how wet her shoulder was getting. She only listened understandingly as the words of regret left his broken voice. The words of apology to his lost friend and his pleas that it should have been him in his place. Gripping onto her with all he had like she was his lifeline.  


Lucy rested her head on top of his, rocking him back and forth as she hummed a familiar tune. One that she remembered her mother would sing whenever she would cry as a child. He’d stopped speaking but his body continued to tremble beneath her touch, focusing on the calmingness of her scent and voice. He wanted to curse himself for being so weak in front of her, but he’d already lost himself in her familiar warmth. Gently, Lucy tilted his head up wiping away a tear that had made its way down his face. Tenderly, she pressed her lips to his forehead before pulling away and releasing a breath. Their eyes met again and Aizawa wondered if this was what people meant when they said that time stopped once they met the right person. The person who was meant for them. He wanted to stay like this, staring into her eyes, feeling her warmth, and smelling her scent but all good things must come to an end eventually.  


_*DING-DONG* *DING-DONG* *DING-DONG* _  
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Lucy slightly jolted at the sudden sound before turning her head around to look at the bedroom door. Shouta groaned before moving to get out of bed, his body didn’t hurt as much now so he could move relatively freely without much trouble. But he doubted that he was going to be able to do much in the way of fighting right now. He was about to leave to answer the door when Lucy let out a squeak once he stood up. Looking down he realized he was still naked and nonchalantly, he walked over to the dresser and pulled out a pair of shorts, lazily putting them on.  
Walking over to the door, he looked through the peephole and sighed as he saw a familiar over gelled head of hair. Opening the door he was assaulted by the loud voice of his friend, immediately Aizawa activated his quirk causing his friend to choke at the sudden cancelation of his voice.  


“Shouta! You’re alive!”  


“Not if your voice gives me a heart attack. Why are you here?”  


“I told you that I was going to check up on you, I came down here as soon as I got the chance,” Yamada then pushed past his friend and made his way into the apartment and looked around, placing his hands on his hips.  


“Don’t just barge in here- “  


“But I brought you food!”  


Aizawa hadn’t noticed but, in fact, the blonde was holding a plastic bag that had two Styrofoam containers within it. He couldn’t tell exactly what kind of food it was, but right now he was just trying to keep his friend from snooping around too much. Even though he’d already told Hizashi about Lucy, he felt a strange sense of panic at the thought of him actually finding her. Like she was a cat that he was trying to hide from his parents.  


“Well where is she then?”  


“Who?”  


“Don’t _who _me, Shouta! Where’s the little listener then?”  
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Hizashi then proceeded to call out to Lucy and made a _pspspsps _noise as if he were calling a cat. Shouta face palmed and was about to smack his friend over the head for being so stupid, only for the blonde to shyly peek her head around the corner of the hallway. Upon seeing her, his childhood friend let out a dramatic gasp before emitting something between a squeal and a scream as he made his way over to the now terrified mage. He grabbed both of her hands, shaking them up and down as he began barraging her with questions that they couldn’t make out what he was trying to say.  
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Lucy could feel her ears ringing when his voice suddenly stopped. Her head felt like it was spinning and when her vision finally settled, she was taken aback when she saw that the man was being choked by a familiar looking scarf. Looking over her breath hitched upon seeing Shouta, his hair was standing up around his head and his eyes, which were glaring at his friend, glowed a brilliant red. _‘Is this what his quirk looks like?’ _  
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“Can’t you introduce yourself like a normal person, Hizashi?”  


“Oh, sorry about that,” the man choked out before Aizawa unwrapped his scarf from him.  


Rubbing his throat, the man adjusted himself and rubbed away imaginary dust from himself before turning back to the fellow blonde flamboyantly.  


“Forgive my rudeness dear listener. I’m Hizashi Yamada better known as Present Mic! It’s so nice to finally meet the little lady that stole Shouta’s heart! “  


Lucy blushed as Shouta silently prepared to murder his friend. The voice hero didn’t seem to sense Shouta’s murderous intent from behind him as he went back to violently shaking the celestial mages hand.  


“Now that you know mine, I’d like to properly meet you. Why don’t you introduce yourself little listener?”  


“U-um, my name is Lucy Heartfilia. It’s nice to meet you, Hizashi-san.”  


“Oh! Getting personal right off the bat, I like it!”  


Lucy tilted her head, confused. “What do you mean?”  


“You’re already using my first name despite this being our first meeting. That’s not very common around here, ya know?”  


Lucy blushed as realization dawned on her. Oh god, had she been embarrassing herself in front of Shouta this entire time? Did he think that she was rude for using his first name this entire time? Why hadn’t he said anything?  


“Eh?! Shouta! How come you never told me?”  


The brunette just shrugged at her question nonchalantly, “Because I don’t care.”  


Lucy felt incredibly embarrassed for her mistake and failure to educate herself when it came to their culture. She thought back to her meetings with Hawks and wondered if he also thought it was rude. But he hadn’t told her his last name and Shouta had addressed him as Hawks as well. Wasn’t that just his hero name? So, it probably wasn’t so bad that she just call him that. Still, Lucy looked down embarrassed and slightly ashamed as she rubbed her neck nervously.  


“I-I’m sorry. It’s just that where I’m from we all address each other by our first names. I wasn’t aware that it was different here. Please forgive my ignorance!” Lucy bowed causing the blonde to laugh at her actions.  


“Don’t worry about it! It’s not a big deal to me. You should be happy that you don’t have to worry about that kind of thing. With that being said, it’s nice to meet you Lucy-chan!”  


Aizawa watched as the two blondes shook hands normally this time. Hizashi began to make small talk with her which Lucy was happy to reply to, her embarrassment leveling as she laughed at the eccentric blonde. Shouta wasn’t paying much attention to what they were talking about, his focus solely on the giggling mage. He found that he enjoyed her laugh, it was light and feminine, and he wondered if it was like that because it was her laugh or if she was trained to laugh like that during her time being raised to be a proper lady in her childhood. Either way, he liked it and a part of him wanted to keep hearing her laugh like that.  


“Shouta? Come on the food’s going to get cold!”  


He hadn’t noticed but the two had already set the table and were currently waiting for him to sit down so they could eat. It felt weird to him, eating with so many people so comfortably as they exchanged stories from their past and questions were exchanged back and forth. It didn’t feel like they were interviewing each other, it felt more friendly and casual. Like they were all long-time friends that met up after being separated for years and were now exchanging stories. Shouta even found himself laughing at a few of their old memories, remembering the fun times of their youth that he’d almost forgotten about. For the first time he saw the way Lucy opened up and revealed more of her personality, bouncing off of the things that the other blonde said with ease that had Hizashi laughing to the point where he almost choked on his food.  


He liked it. Like the sense of friendship that hung heavy in the air and filled the room with a familiar warmth that he hadn’t felt in a while. But, as much as he wanted this feeling to stay, things took a rather sharp turn once a certain question was asked.  


“So, are you sleeping with Hawks or what?”  


Shouta almost cringed as he watched Lucy’s face fall at the question. If he hadn’t wanted to kill the voice hero before, he certainly wanted to do it now. He elbowed the blonde in the face warranting a confused cry from his friend. He looked and saw as Lucy awkwardly picked at her mostly cleaned dish, her brow was furrowed, and she gave Shouta an unpleased look before answering.  


“No, he’s more of a friendly acquaintance actually. And I could say the same thing when it comes to Shouta. Although, I’m not entirely sure where it is that I stand with him, today.”  


Shouta felt his skin crawl as the air became heavily tense to the point where he could practically feel it crushing his lungs, making it hard to breathe. Luckily, this at least was not lost on Hizashi who quickly realized his mistake and let out an awkward laugh, sliding out of his chair.  


“Oh wow, would you look at the time?! I have to get back to work, but it was so nice meeting you Lucy-chan! I’ll just go ahead and leave now; I’ll text you later Shouta!”  


Aizawa swore that he’d never seen the blonde leave so fast and he had half a mind to tie the blonde to his chair and force him to endure the tension that he’d created. But he was already out the door before either of them could react leaving them to bask in the silence that followed. Neither of them dared to make a sound for the longest time. He hadn’t even dared to move a muscle, which he was now feeling the painful sensation of pins and needles settle into his legs. He was aware how bad this made him look and he knew that an explanation was needed, but his tongue seemed to be lodged in his throat at the moment.  


It was only when Lucy abruptly stood up and walked down the hall that it finally dislodged itself and Shouta followed after the fuming girl. She laid down on the bed, her back facing him as she said nothing. He sighed as he closed the door and approached the blonde, sitting on the edge of the bed he ran a hand through his hair.  


“Before you get any more upset just let me explain. I apparently said some things last night when I was drunk- “  


“What? That I’m a slut that’s going around and sleeping with the first guys I meet? Is that how you see me Shouta? Because a drunk mans ramblings are a sober man’s thoughts and I’m not going to stay here if that’s really how you see me!”  


“No that’s not how I see you! I wasn’t going around telling people that you were a slut, I apparently rambled to Hizashi that I thought that that’s what you were doing with Hawks, but I never meant it like that.”  


“Then how did you mean it? Because it still sounds like all you see me as is a piece of meat that’ll spread her legs for anyone Shouta!”  


“Don’t you go pushing your assumptions on me like they’re facts! The truth is that after I started thinking that the two of you were a thing, I got jealous and started thinking the worst. I won’t deny that I think that you’re sexy and great in bed and if I ever got the opportunity, I’d gladly pound you into the mattress again! But that doesn’t mean that I think you’re easy, after this morning I think that you’re the most amazing person I’ve ever met and I want more of you in my life for the rest of my life, but only if you’ll have me!”  


“Why do you keep doing this to me Shouta?” her voice came out weak as she curled into herself, bringing her knees up to her chest as she covered her ears with her hands.  


Shouta let out a noise of confusion, coughing as he regretted yelling when his throat was so sore.  


“One minute you’re so kind and I feel so embarrassed being around you because my heart won’t stop beating so fast. But then you go, and act so mean to me and make me think you don’t want me around. My heart can’t take any more of it,” Lucy felt a lump in her throat grow as she sobbed.  


“You’re just going to reject me again tomorrow because that’s what you’re good at. Please just leave me alone Shouta, I can leave tomorrow, and you’ll never have to deal with me again, just please let me go.”  


Shouta looked at her stunned before furrowing his brow in annoyance. Grabbing her shoulder, he forced her onto her back as he moved on top of her, she tried hitting him and thrashing her body in protest but Shouta quickly restrained her, forcing her to listen to him.  


“Look, I know I’ve been a bit bipolar these past few days and I’m sorry. Which is why I want to make a promise to you; I promise that after tonight I won’t treat you any different, I won’t deny my feelings and make you second guess the way I feel about you. I can’t promise I’ll be any good at this whole romance thing because I’ve never done this before. Just please don’t leave me like this kid, for one because I’m sick and second because my heart’s gonna hurt like hell if you do. So, will you please open your heart to this old man?”  


Lucy looked away for a second and thought about everything. About him, about herself, about Hawks. She hated being put on the spot like this, but she knew that sometimes in life you had to be put on the spot and make a tough decision. Whether that decision worked out or not was up to fate and things didn’t necessarily work out all the time. But she’d made harder decisions before, decisions that led her to where she is now. Underneath a confusing man that was asking for her to love him despite everything.  


“You’re not old,” was all she could manage to say to him.  


He chuckled and leaned closer to her face. Licking his lips, he stopped just before they could meet. Closing her eyes, she connected their lips and for once she found that they weren’t chapped, and his stubble didn’t bother her the way it usually did. Her mind was tired, but her heart felt satisfied as they wrapped their arms around each other.  


That night, they held each other not bothering to get under the covers, instead using each other for warmth. The night was filled with soft kisses and gentle words until neither of them realized that they’d fallen asleep. But once morning came neither one of them let go of the other, instead basking in each other’s presence, the occasional sweet word was exchanged, and more kisses were shared until they fell asleep again, not waking until the afternoon sun was at its peak.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter took longer than I thought it would. My week as been kind of hectic since it's the last week of school and I'm supposed to graduate on Tuesday, I have a lot to think about when it comes to the future and it really stresses me out because I'm more afraid than anything else. I posted another story but tbh I might take it down since I don't know how I feel about it and not too many people seem to like it. Thank you to those who still supported it and who have shown me so much support on this story, it became more popular than I could have ever imagined and it makes me so happy to come back here and read your comments among other things. Until next time, thank you for reading! :)


	11. Star Dresses: ignorable chapter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just my redesigns for a few of the star dresses

Hello readers so this is me putting a brief pause on the story just to address something that may be a bit insignificant to some, but I just felt the need to include it. By what you can already guess from the title, it has to do with Lucy’s Star Dresses, specifically the designs of them and a little bit of what it has to do with their powers. Don’t get me wrong, I love Lucy’s star dresses in the show and I love how much stronger she has become with them, that being said I wasn’t the biggest fan of how some of them were designed and so this is just how I’m picturing them in terms of this story. If you’re not a fan of how I picture them that’s fine, you can just ignore this chapter and keep the mental image of how you want them to look. I’m not going to be changing all of them just the one’s I think could’ve looked better and I’m in no way trying to say that my mental image of what they are is superior to the original. If you want to know how I’m picturing them in the story, then keep on reading! 

Taurus: So, the issue that I first think of when I see her Taurus star dress is the pants. I don’t know why but they bother me a bit, so I just decided to change the outfit into something a bit more of what I think would be better for close combat while still keeping the cowgirl/western vibe that the original has.  


I took a lot of inspiration from DMC 4 Dante’s design when he has Gilgamesh on, since he does have some western aspects to his outfit and when he has Gilgamesh on, I think it’s a pretty perfect combo for a close combat type with some western aspects. What I took from his design without Gilgamesh is mostly the chaps with jeans underneath and the cowboy boots.  
Her new outfit for her Taurus form I would picture her wearing jeans under black chaps tucked into brown cowgirl boots. Her top I would picture it being a brown cowhide vest with the cowhide just being on the back. For combat I would imagine her wearing gauntlets and greaves. I couldn’t find any good images for how the greaves would look so they look sort of like Dante’s except they’re black and gold. I’m also going to make it so that she can requip and use Taurus’s axe along with her whip. Her hair would remain the same and I would also keep the belt, bag, choker, and those bits of cowhide material above her gloves.  


Sagittarius: Maybe it’s because I’m a Sagittarius that I think Mashima did us dirty when it came to character design. I do like the fact that it’s one of her most powerful dresses and it’s one she’s been using a lot. I actually do like this dress but here’s just what I would have pictured in my head for the dress.  


I would’ve made it look more like a Japanese Kyudo uniform with the accents to make it more of a celestial aesthetic. I’d picture the Hakama as a dark green color with star designs along the bottom along with her kyudo-gi being white with green trim. Her hair and her bow and arrows would be the same. Along with her archery skills I would include the ability to see farther distances.  


Aries: Oh boy, this is the one I really wanted to redesign. Maybe it’s the skirt, maybe it’s the out of place stockings but this one is probably my least favorite in terms of design. I get that Aries’s whole thing is that she’s fluffy, but I would’ve hoped that there would have been more to this.  


Okay, so even though this was the one I really wanted to change I also didn’t really know what I would’ve wanted it to look like. Eventually, after looking at other people’s designs for sheep girls I settled on something. I decided to give her a more pastel Lolita aesthetic with her keeping the pink and white color scheme. I would imagine her wearing a pink and white wool coat with that fluffy trim along the cuffs, collar and skirt. The boots would be knee high and pink with white fluffy trim and the stockings would have been pink and white striped. I would have kept the horns and the hairstyle, as for her powers they haven’t been shown yet but it has been said that she’ll also be able to use wool magic so along with that I’m making her have the ability to shoot out her horns like eclipse Aries or Pony.  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a quick "chapter" about my take on Lucy's star dresses. Again I don't think what I would want them to look like is superior or that that you need to see them like this, it's just my take. Let me know what you guys think of them and what you think of her original star dresses. I'll go into detail about what Lucy's powers are going to be after she goes through training but you'll have to wait for that when it arrives ;). A proper chapter will come later in the week so hopefully you'll stick around to see it.


	12. Penultimate*

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lucy and Aizawa get a brief couple moment. Lucy trains and citrus fun ensues.

Destruction. No matter where he looked all Shouta could see were the destroyed ruins of land he didn’t recognize. Buildings were collapsed and rubble littered the ground, all of the dust that was in the air made it difficult to breathe. He walked around and looked over and under every piece of destroyed land as if he were searching for someone. His desperation intensified when he heard something in the distance. A call of distress resonated throughout the ruins and made it difficult to pinpoint where it was coming from. Eventually, he found where the sound was coming from as he began to desperately claw at the pieces of building obscuring the person from view. Even though his hands were bleeding he continued until he managed to remove the concrete from view. He almost didn’t recognize the corpse of the person that he’d found, their pale body was covered in bruises and cuts and their face was obscured by their dirtied, tangled hair. Their blonde hair. With a shaky hand, he delicately turned the person's body so that they lied on their back, her face looked almost peaceful and he would have thought that she was sleeping if not for the fact that blood was running down her face and out her mouth. A wave of nausea ran through his body as the world around him disappeared, leaving him with the bloodied corpse of the woman he cared so deeply for. _‘This has to be a dream. I just have to wake up. I have to wake up!’ _he clutched his face as he began roughly pulling at his hair and sinking his blunt nails into the skin of his face. The ground beneath him began to shake violently as suddenly he was back in the ruined city, the sky a red hue that tinted everything around him until all he could see was that scarlet red. An inhuman sound pierced the sky and Shouta found himself having difficulty breathing as if something were pressing down on his lungs. A strong feeling of dread enveloped him as he felt an immense presence behind him, growing closer. He didn’t want to turn around and everything in his brain was telling him not to, but still, he found his body turning to face whatever was behind him. It was only a split second that he saw the creature, its large body covered in black scales was all that he could see contrasted by the almost glowing blue designs that also ran along its body. In all of his years of hero work, he was sure that he had never seen anything more terrifying and he felt his body begin to shake.__

____

____

“Shouta! Shouta, please wake up! You’re dreaming!”

Shouta’s eyes snapped open and he was met with the concerned face of Lucy, who had her hands on his sweaty shoulders as she shook his body awake. He felt cold and he struggled to even out his breathing. The events of the dream flashing through his mind, but he found that the more he replayed the memory, the less he could remember. But two things remained glued in his mind, Lucy’s body, and the terrifying creature that he was sure was the cause behind it. He rested his face in his hands and groaned, he felt tired despite how late he knew it was and how long he’d slept. A gentle hand rested on his head and he peeked through his hands to look at her.

“Are you okay, Shouta? What happened?”

He didn’t answer her, only enveloped her in an embrace and shifted his body weight onto her, pushing her so that she was now underneath him, and buried his face in the sweet-smelling skin of her neck.  


“S-Shouta?”

“Sshh, just… let me stay like this for a moment. Please.”

Lucy’s eyes softened, bringing her hands up to run along his back and scratch his scalp soothingly. Aizawa released a breath as his heart rate slowed, closing his eyes, and enjoying the feeling of her fingers against him. He smiled as he remembered the final moments of the night before. He had taken a rather illogical leap and asked her to be his at last and best of all, she agreed. He nuzzled into her and placed a kiss to the side of her neck. Lucy felt her heart leap and she blushed when she realized what he had done. She knew that it probably shouldn’t be weird, now that they were officially together. But this would be her first relationship and she had no idea how to act or respond to what he was doing. An anxious feeling filled her gut as she began to wonder what to do. Should she kiss him back? Let him do his own thing, or should she stop him? Her mind began spinning and an anxious feeling filled her gut. He probably had his fair share of lovers in the past and knew how to act, meanwhile she was panicking over what she should do now that he was trying to be affectionate.

“What are you panicking about?” came his baritone voice directly next to her ear.

After he had kissed her neck her fingers had slowed until they came to a complete halt and her foot had begun to move up and down. When he looked up her, he could tell that she was spaced out, thinking about something. He worried for a second that he had made her uncomfortable, bringing up his hand to caress her cheek.

“Huh? Nothing, nothing really! I’m just thinking about stuff,” Lucy tried to brush it off waving her hand and giving a smile that didn’t meet her eyes. But Shouta knew better, and he wasn’t about to drop the topic so easily.

“Now don’t give me that. The key to a good relationship is communication.” He sat up and shifted them so that now she was sitting between his legs, bringing his face close to hers. “So, come on then, tell daddy what’s bothering you kitten.”

Lucy was sure her face was redder than Erza’s hair as she shoved his face away from her, trying to hide her face. “I thought you’d forgotten about that!”

“Believe me, I’m never going to forget about that for as long as I live. Now come on tell me. What’s the matter?”

Lucy hesitated. “Fine, but only if you tell me what you were dreaming about.”

Aizawa hummed in agreement, resting his chin on top of her head, and wrapping his arms around her. Lucy adjusted herself in his grip before sighing and gathering her thoughts.

“I guess I’m just scared.”

“Of what?”

“I’m scared that I’m going to be bad at this whole “relationship” thing. You’re my first boyfriend ya know? What if I’m a bad girlfriend and you realize you don’t like me anymore?” Lucy felt her voice start to tremble the more she spoke, and her eyes began to water. She didn’t expect herself to break down so easily but the more she thought about the possibility of him leaving her the more her fear seemed to rise, and she found herself panicking. But she was brought out of her thoughts by Aizawa hugging her closer and running his fingers through her messy hair.

“Getting ahead of yourself aren’t you kid?”

“Huh?”

“We haven’t even been dating a whole day yet and you’re already worrying about our breakup? At least let me take you out to dinner first before you start worrying about that kind of thing.” 

Lucy furrowed her brow at him feeling annoyed at how seemingly lightly he was taking what she said. She was about to retort before she was cut off by him speaking again.

“But in all seriousness, inexperience shouldn’t be the thing you’re getting all self-conscious about. Do you remember what I told you last night?”

Lucy blinked at him in confusion, replaying what happened last night but finding that her thoughts were all jumbled up. Aizawa let out an exasperated sigh at her reaction and continued.

“You’re not the only newbie here when it comes to relationships. I’m almost 30 and the closest thing I’ve had to a romantic relationship is with my sleeping bag. We’re both going to learn as we go and it’s not going to be easy. We’ll make mistakes and we won’t always know what to do or say to each other but what’s important is that we learn from it. Learn what we do and don’t like, how we see the world and how we see ourselves. We need to learn how to find acceptance and happiness in one another even in the darkest of times because if we can get through that we can get through anything. So, don’t worry about what experience you don’t have right now because I’ll make sure that we experience everything together no matter how small or insignificant it may seem.”

“Shouta…” Lucy gripped onto the older male, tucking her head into his neck, inhaling his calming scent, and enjoying the contrasting feeling of his smooth skin and the rougher hair of his face and body. 

He felt strong, he felt sturdy, he felt like home and comfort to Lucy. Like four walls that could protect her from anything, keeping her sheltered and warm. To Aizawa, Lucy felt fragile and small in his grasp. As if he would accidentally break her if he held on too tight and yet when he embraced her, he found her body firm and unyielding. It reminded him of everything she’d been through and how she wasn’t someone to underestimate. They looked into each other’s eyes before connecting their lips in a tender kiss-cut short by Lucy pulling away.

“You have morning breath.”

Aizawa gave her a lazy smirk and pecked her on the lips, “Yeah but you don’t mind.”

Lucy only blushed as Aizawa pulled her in to kiss her again, giggling as she tried to pull away from him which only resulted in him pulling her closer. She was about to put a stop to their impromptu make-out session when the sound of her phone ringing brought both of them out of the moment. Lucy gently pushed Aizawa off of her before reaching over to the desk to retrieve her phone. Looking at the screen Lucy was pleasantly surprised to find that Hawks had texted her.

Aizawa watched from his side of the bed as Lucy texted who could only assume was Hawks since he didn’t think she had any other numbers on her phone besides his. He looked at her with her messy slightly tangled hair and smiled faintly. He couldn’t help but think about how much their relationship had changed since he’d first met her, to think he hadn’t even known her a month and yet he couldn’t help but feel his heart grow tender at the mere sight of her. He knew women that he had known for months if not years that had tried to date him who he still didn’t give much thought to and yet this girl had done it without even trying. It was strange. Illogical. Represented everything he was against and yet he didn’t oppose it. Lucy turned to him, an unsure smile painting her face which faintly concerned him.

“Shouta. Would it be alright if I went out to train with Hawks for a bit? I swear it won’t be long “

Aizawa’s mind went blank for a moment as he processed her request. Various questions flooded his mind that he wanted to ask yet he chose not to.

“Sure, you don’t need to ask me for permission. Just be careful and don’t get yourself too hurt. Okay?”

Lucy nodded giving him a warm smile before giving him a quick kiss and getting out of bed to get ready. Aizawa watched as she left noticing the slight urgency in her movements. He couldn’t help but feel disappointed once he was left alone. There was a lot he wanted to know about her still and he needed to know what his dream meant. He remembered Lucy’s stories about the black dragon that tried to kill her and her guild during their exams, but he couldn’t seem to remember the name. Aizawa wasn’t a man that believed in such things as fortune-telling and fate. As far as he was concerned it was all just lies told by people looking to make a quick buck out of people foolish and desperate enough to believe in things as vague as astrology and tarot readings. Aizawa shook his head. It was probably just his memories of her tales that were effecting his dreams and nothing more. Nonetheless, he still wanted to hear her take on it when she returned.

Lucy knocked on the doorframe of the room, bringing him out of his thoughts. She looked at him with a small smile and her posture seemed hesitant. She was wearing black yoga pants with a light pink tank top and white running shoes. Part of him wondered why she would pack something like this before she left if she originally thought this was just going to be a short mission, but he decided not to question it too much, knowing that some people had the problem of over-packing when they traveled.

“I’m heading out now. Okay? I’ll be back soon.”

Aizawa stood up from the bed and walked over to her. He looked down her for a moment before taking her chin between his fingers and tilting her head up, kissing her as sweetly as he could. Lucy sighed in content, standing up on her tiptoes to make it easier to reach him. His morning breath hadn’t gotten any better, much to her dismay, but she still enjoyed the feeling of his lips against her own and she wanted to pout once they finally parted.

“Don’t give me that look. Now go on. Wouldn’t want to keep him waiting.”

Aizawa was about to turn to leave but was stopped by Lucy putting a hand on his chest. He looked at her and couldn’t ignore the sympathetic feeling he got when he saw the sad face she was making. Part of him wanted to leave her wanting more but the aching feeling in his chest was too much for him and he sighed.

“Okay, one more.” He didn’t miss how her eyes brightened as he connected their lips again. He also didn’t miss how much more eager this kiss was compared to the others, with Lucy gently tugging on his hair and hungrily kissing him, almost refusing to let go. He cursed under his breath as he kissed her back with much more fervor, almost forgetting that she had somewhere to be. Not even the sound of her phone ringing again seemed to dissuade her as she continued her actions until he gently pushed her away.

“Alright, alright that’s enough. You have somewhere to be, remember?”

Looking much more chipper, Lucy nodded before kissing him on the cheek and almost bouncing out the door. It brought a contented smile to his face as he finally turned to get ready for the day. Or at least what was left of it.

Lucy hoped that her face wasn’t too red as she walked out of Aizawa’s apartment to meet up with Hawks. Even though she hadn’t kissed many people in her life, Shouta was definently her favorite person to kiss and it made her wonder if this was how every person in a relationship felt when they kissed their partner. It made her feel light and giddy and it made her forget what she was nervous about.  
During their kiss Hawks had texted her, much to her embarrassment, asking what was taking her so long since he had already arrived. And true to his word, there was Hawks waiting not so patiently by the entrance, looking down at his phone. Lucy noticed that not much about his training clothes was different from his regular hero attire. The only change being that he was no longer wearing his jacket and his boots were replaced with sneakers. She waved at him as she approached which he lazily returned.

He threw an arm around her shoulders forcing her head down as he rubbed his knuckles into her head playfully. Lucy tried half-heartedly to get out of his grasp, but Hawks didn’t seem to let up even for a second, if anything it seemed that his grip on the blonde mage only tightened at her escape attempt.

“Hiya dove. How’s it going?”

Lucy blew her hair, which had gotten messed up from his actions, out of her face. “Fine, chicken, I’ve been just fine. Now, where are we going?”

“Why so impatient kid? I haven’t seen you in forever and you haven’t even asked how _I _am yet. Rude.” He said, putting a hand over his heart in mock pain as fake tears ran down his face.__

____

____

Lucy sweatdropped at his actions and walked ahead of him, not that she knew where they were going. Hawks caught up to her quickly and wrapped an arm around her, leading her in the direction of a nearby park. As they walked, they made small talk about Hawks’ recent jobs and the villains that he’d captured while working. A strange feeling of panic and embarrassment filled her chest when Hawks asked about what she had done in the few days they hadn’t seen each other which Lucy tried to brush off as best she could. While Lucy was by no means a love expert, she could at least pick up when someone was interested in her, whether she wanted to believe it or not, and a part of her worried about what would become of their relationship once she revealed the recent developments to Hawks. She’d heard horror stories from the other girls in the guild about guys who treated them like crap when they rejected them or told them that they had boyfriends despite how nice they had treated them prior. She didn’t want to believe that Hawks was someone like that, but she had been warned to keep her guard up around guys who seemed almost too nice.

Finally, they’d made it to the park where not too many people seemed to be around, much to her relief. She turned to Hawks who was stretching not too far away and asked him why he even wanted to train with her in the first place.

“Because you suck at fighting.”

“Wow, gee, thanks.”

“Hey, you were the one telling me that you don’t think you can keep up with the rest of your team. Which is why I wanna help you out a bit dove. I was once in your place too. Weak, wide-eyed, stupid, incapable of fighting at all- “

“Ok, I get it!”

“Sorry, but the reality is harsh dove. I would think you’d know that by now. This is why I wanna help you get good, but I’m also warning you that I’m not good at taking things slow, so I’m expecting you to keep up and keep complaints to a minimum.”

“You say that like this was my idea…”

“Enough! Now let’s check your reflexes!”

Before Lucy could even realize what was happening, she felt her feet get thrown out from under her and she fell face-first into the dirt. Lucy spat up dirt as Hawks looked down at her, eyes closed while nodding and rubbing his chin.

“Ah yes, I see. You have terrible reflexes.”

“You didn’t even let me get ready!”

“Well, they wouldn’t be reflexes if you were planning to do them. Now would they?”

Lucy looked at him annoyed as she stood up and dusted the dirt off of herself. Her face hurt and she had the feeling he wasn’t about to let up anytime soon. But still, she tried her best to keep up with the oversized bird as best she could throughout the training. Still, she found herself tired and heaving for air before they’d even gotten to the combat portion of their training. She was sure that her lungs would explode if they did anymore, but the wing hero was relentless in his approach. Now she sat on the ground, chugging as much water as she could while the not tired at all Hawks stood posed with his hands on his hips.

“Come on dove! Let’s work on your fighting skills!”

“But I’m dying.”

“That’s no excuse! Now come on get up!”

Lucy sighed as she stood back up on her aching feet. At this point, she felt like she would pass out at any moment if she pushed herself any harder. But it didn’t seem to matter as she got into a fighting stance in front of Hawks, trying her best to not get her knees to buckle.

“Alright kid, I’m gonna give you some combat advice for twigs like us who aren’t good at physical strength. Even though we might not be able to bring down people with a single punch like some people, what we lack in brute force we can make up for in speed. Whether it’s dodging or attacking before the enemy even realizes what happened, we can still put up a good fight and even win if we just manage to be quicker than the enemy.”

Despite how harsh the “warm-up” was, Lucy actually found herself listening closely to his words. It was true that she’d noticed her lack of muscle compared to her teammates. Natsu and Gray spent most of their time fighting or training and Erza not only needed it for fighting but just to wear her armor needed a significant amount of strength. Lucy knew that she was more of a long-range fighter but that didn’t mean that she could always avoid close combat.

“Alright, dove. The only thing I want you to do is to land one hit on me. Once you do, your training will be over for the day. Does that sound okay?”

Lucy nodded, wiping the sweat from her brow. Despite how simple the instructions sounded; she knew that this wouldn’t be easy. Taking a deep breath, she mentally prepared herself to attack. Hawks stood across from her nonchalantly, his wings tucked behind his back casually. Beforehand he had assured her that he would refrain from using his wings at all, even to fly to make it fair to her. All at once, she charged at him, balling her hand into a fist, and winding up to punch him with all her might. But before her hand could even connect with him, she instead found it being wrenched behind her back as she was shoved toward the ground. She looked back at Hawks, who didn’t look at her, instead picking at his nails as if nothing happened. Lucy didn’t know how much time had passed as she continued to try and fail to land a hit on him which always resulted in him either dodging or throwing her to the ground again. By this point she was tired and angry, her palms on the verge of bleeding from where her nails had dug into her skin painfully. She was starting to feel a bit woozy and wanted nothing more than to just get home and rest. Hawks had yet to break a sweat as she lunged at him again desperately trying to connect a hit. Once again, he dodged and in frustration, Lucy swung her arm back only for her elbow to make an impact with something.

“Ow!”

Lucy quickly turned around and was met with the sight of Hawks clutching his chin in pain. They stared at each other for a moment before a smile broke out on his face and he threw his arms around the exhausted mage. Before she knew it, Lucy found herself being flown up into the air, holding onto Hawks with what little strength she had left. She squealed when Hawks spun her around excitedly and she was sure that she would instead die of fear if her exhaustion didn’t do the trick first. Noticing her obvious discomfort Hawks stopped spinning her, instead he looked at her face which was partially buried in his chest. Sweat rolled down her neck and the majority of her face was red from overheating. Still, he didn’t mind as he brought up a hand to cup her cheek. Lucy hesitantly opened her eyes to peek at him through her lashes. With all of the training that she had just done, it made her forget that he was still unaware of her romantic status. Lucy awkwardly coughed and looked away from him, asking if he could hurry and put her down, to which he complied.

“Are you okay there dove?”

“Yeah, yeah I’m fine. Just really tired, ya know? I’m pretty sure you almost killed me.”

“Don’t be so dramatic, it wasn’t that bad. I could have been much worse, believe me, just ask my sidekicks.”

Lucy shuddered as she imagined what kind of hell Hawks was capable of inflicting on his poor underlings if what she had just been through was considered far from the worst. She rubbed her neck with her hand as she tried to collect her words and admit the truth. But the more she went over what she wanted to say, the heavier the weight on her shoulders seemed to become, and the tighter her chest seemed to feel. She gulped and took a deep breath, rerunning what she planned to say in her head before opening her mouth to speak.

“Hawks, there’s something that I have to tell you.”

“That you got a boyfriend.”

“It’s really not that big of a deal and… Wait, how did you know?”

He gave her another signature smirk- “You’re really easy to read you know? I knew from the moment you came out to meet me that something was up and how you were acting just now solidified it for me.”

Lucy blushed as she looked away from him in embarrassment. “So, you’re not upset?”

“Nah. Why would I be? To be honest I would be more surprised if you actually chose me. After you’re monologue at the end of our last date, I knew it was just a matter of time before you realized that you wanted to date him instead.”

“Oh. Well, I hope this doesn’t affect our relationship too much. I do still really like you as a friend and I’d like to still talk to you regardless.”

“Of course, dove. But if I’m being honest this doesn’t mean that I’m going to just give up on you. Believe me, as soon as he messes up, I’m going to be the first one there for you no problem.”

Lucy awkwardly smiled at him as she began to rethink her decisions, stopped only by Hawks resting a hand on her shoulder and giving her a confident smile. As much as what he said was off-putting to her, she still felt less panicked when he smiled at her which she supposed could be attributed to his hero status. She smiled back at him and lightly hugged him, patting his back before pulling away.

“Hopefully, we can keep in contact. I’d still like to talk to you after I leave tomorrow.”

“Yeah. Wait. What?

* * *

To say that Aizawa’s mood had gone down after Lucy had returned would be an understatement. First, he was less than pleased to see his girlfriend covered in bruises and out of breath, struggling to even walk as she stumbled into the small apartment. He had helped her out and got her water and whatever else she needed before she went to go and take a shower. Before she had done so, she had reminded him that her stay with him would be coming to an end tomorrow which made his stomach sink until he could practically feel it in his feet. Which lead him to where he is now; staring at the bright pink calendar in his kitchen as he looked over the days and recounted them over and over as if it would somehow allow her to spend another day, if not another year, with him if he just stared at it long enough. But no matter how long he looked over and recounted, again and again, it still didn’t change that tomorrow would mark one week since she had agreed to stay with him and work for him.

He sighed in disappointment as he stood up and walked back to his bedroom. Despite her not having stayed very long, there was a part of him that wasn’t ready to go back to the mundane life that he had lived before she came along. Even if he might not admit it, that week had been far from boring for Aizawa, and part of him might even call it entertaining. He still wanted to have her here, if only to have something to look forward to when he came home from work.

The sound of the bathroom door opening brought him out of his thoughts as he looked up to see her rubbing her damp hair with a towel, wearing the blue sleep shirt he’d seen her in the afternoon they had their first meal together. Lucy gave him a warm smile, her skin flushed from the heat of the shower as she went to sit next to him on the bed. She rested her head on his shoulder, his hand coming up to caress the part of her neck where her hair ended.

“What’s the matter Shouta? Something bothering you?”

“Just thinking about tomorrow is all.” He stated flatly, his eyes distant as he continued to absentmindedly caress her neck.

“I know. It hurts me just as much to leave. But I’ve got responsibilities to get back to at home.”

“I know, I just wish there were more hours in the day, if only just for today.”

Lucy looked at him sadly, resting her hand over his free hand, running her thumb over his knuckles. She gave him a kiss on the cheek, burying her face in his neck and inhaling his scent. He must have showered while she was gone, as she could smell his body wash better than she could earlier that day.

“Let’s not think about that right now. Why don’t you instead tell me about that dream you were having. Don’t think I forgot already.”

Aizawa blinked and sighed. Despite what he’d told her that morning, he didn’t feel like reliving the events of his dream again, knowing that it would somehow bring his mood down even further than it already was. But still, he knew that any moment talking to her more was more important now than ever and he did still question it slightly.

“I dreamt that the world was ending. I think I was in some kind of city that was completely destroyed, and I heard someone calling out to me and I found out that it was you. You were dead, completely crushed underneath the rubble before I saw this giant black dragon behind me. It ended after that and I doubt it means anything but still…”

“Oh my god. That must have been awful for you! The dragon that you saw…Was it...?”

“Yeah, I think it might have been the one that you were telling me about. Whatever happened to it after it attacked your guild?”

Lucy looked uneasy as she answered him. “To be honest I don’t know. After the first master erected Fairy Sphere when it attacked us no one knows what happened to it. I want to say it died during those seven years, but I can’t be sure. Still, I don’t want to think it’ll ever come back to hurt us again and neither should you.”

“But what if it does come back? What if it comes back to finish the job and you don’t have some ancient magic to protect you again and you die while I’m all the way across the ocean unable to do anything and never knowing what happened to you? I don’t think I could handle that happening to anyone I know but especially not you.”

Aizawa’s brow furrowed and he clenched his fist, his mind running through the worst possible outcomes of the possibility of the dragon returning. A gentle hand came up to turn his head to the now teary-eyed girl. His face softened at her, leaning into her touch, and bringing his hand up to cover hers.

“Please don’t say that! I know that there’s going to be a lot that we’re going to have to worry about considering the distance and our occupations. But I can promise that no matter what happens, I’ll always come back to you!”

"You shouldn’t make such illogical promises. It’ll only make it hurt more when you can’t keep them.”

Lucy gave him a teary smile, “I’m a celestial wizard. I _always _keep my promises.”__

____

____

Aizawa looked at her and reached a hand out to wipe a stray tear that had run down her face before finding himself leaning in to kiss her. Her lips were as soft as he remembered them, if not more as he ran his tongue over her bottom lip. His tongue swirled over hers and she let out a faint moan as his hands caressed her sides and pulled her closer to him. Gently he shifted her further onto the bed before laying her down and moving between her legs. Lucy ran her fingers over his chest above his shirt, enjoying the firmness and warmth of his body. Aizawa parted from her lips and moved to kiss down her jaw and neck, lightly grazing his teeth over the sensitive flesh and making her let out a breathy moan.

Shouta sat up for a moment, taking off his shirt and Lucy stared up at him in awe. Despite how many times she’d seen him shirtless already, Lucy still wasn’t used to how beautiful Aizawa was underneath all of his clothes. He came down to briefly kiss her lips again before his focus shifted to unbuttoning her shirt. Lucy felt the anticipation build between her legs the more buttons he undid until at last the final button came undone. A little too eagerly, Lucy’s sleepshirt was removed and thrown onto the floor along with Aizawa’s shirt. Lucy blushed as Aizawa stared at the lacey red bra she wore intently. He smirked as he rubbed her nipples through the thin fabric, causing them to pebble noticeably through her bra. Her breath hitched as he rubbed his knee against her aching core, her back arching making it easier for him to remove her bra. Lucy ran her hands through his hair as his mouth latched onto the rosy bud of her chest his hand coming up to tweak and pinch at the other one.

“Have I ever told you how perfect I think your body is?” came his raspy voice, his warm breath fanning against her skin.

“How so?” she replied breathlessly as he mindlessly kissed the soft skin of her breasts.

“It’s the only body I ever want to look at like this ever again, for the rest of my life.”

Aizawa kissed down her stomach until he was at the waistband of her matching panties. Slowly he tugged them down her smooth legs and discarded them mindlessly onto the floor. Lucy pouted at his still partially clothed form as she tugged at the waistband of his sweatpants. Aizawa chuckled as he removed them, kicking them off along with his underwear. She blushed as she looked at his semi-hard member, her memory from their first time was somewhat faded and it left her wondering how something like that had ever fit inside her. Aizawa sat her up, pressing her body against his and connecting their lips again. Lucy let out a surprised yelp as his hand made contact with her wet sex. Gently he ran his fingers along her slit and circled her clit. He swallowed the moans that escaped her mouth which increased as he dipped a finger into her wet heat. Even though her mind was starting to haze with lust, Lucy felt bad for only being on the receiving end and timidly she reached down to grasp the warm velvety skin of his member. It was his turn to let out a moan of his own into her mouth, Lucy felt a slight bolt of confidence well up in herself as she slowly stroked him as best she could. It felt slightly awkward with the angle she was at but still, she persisted, running her thumb over the leaking head which earned her another groan from him. Before she could grow too smug though, her concentration broke as a shock of pleasure ran through her and her hips involuntarily bucked into his hand, letting out a high pitch moan. He smirked against her mouth before pulling away and laying her down, spreading her legs and positioning himself at her entrance. Lucy quickly shut her eyes as she anticipated what was about to happen next.

“Look at me kitten. Don’t look away from me.”

Lucy slowly reopened her eyes, looking into his blown-out pupils that almost completely swallowed the grey of his irises. Lucy’s mouth hung open as she felt him enter her and she struggled to keep her eyes open. He hissed as he slowly thrust into the familiar welcoming heat of her body. Once he was sure she had adjusted, he roughly snapped his hips into hers, granting him a surprised mewl from Lucy.

“That’s it, kitty. Don’t hold back.”

Lucy didn’t think she could even if she tried, she could tell how different this was than their first time. His movements were slow, more calculated, as he made sure to hit her in just the right spot that had her seeing stars with each roll of his hips. She wrapped her legs around his waist and ran her fingernails down his back lightly, earning her an especially deep thrust from him. Despite how good this was feeling, there was something in her than yearned for more, something rougher than what he was giving her.

“Please, Shouta.”

“What is it kitten?”

“Please go faster.” She said, emphasizing her point by bucking her hips up to meet his, both moaning at the deeper penetration it caused. But Aizawa only held her hips in place, much to her dismay as he continued at his excruciatingly slow pace.

“Oh, no kitten. We’re going to take things nice and slow for right now. I want to savor every part of you until I’ve had my fill. But don’t worry, I promise you’ll be far from displeased by the end of it.”

Before she could protest, his thumb came to rub at her clit at the same time as a particularly well-aimed thrust that had the only thing coming out of her mouth a wanton moan as she clutched onto the bedsheets. True to his word, his movements remained slow, and yet Lucy found her orgasm fast approaching as he continued to rub her clit and hit her g spot with each roll of his hips.

“Sh-Sho, I’m gonna-!”

“Yeah, just let it all out. Come on kitten, don’t hold anything back.”

Lucy felt her back arch off the bed as Aizawa continued to roughly rub and thrust into her through her orgasm. Lucy dug her nails into his arm as his thrusts didn’t cease, roughly pounding into her overstimulated sex. She bit her lip as a series of pitiful whimpers left her mouth, her toes curling as her legs wrapped tighter around his waist. 

“Alright, I think it’s time I give you what you wanted.”

Lucy let out a noise of confusion before he hiked her legs up, hooking them onto his elbows, and entered her again with a harsh jab that hit the deepest point inside her. Lucy clenched her eyes shut and threw her head back as he hammered into her at an impossible pace that had her body twitching with oversensitivity. Lucy struggled to catch her breath as she weakly opened her eyes, looking up at her focused lover. His brow was furrowed in concentration, beads of sweat rolling down his neck, and his taut muscles flexing with every harsh thrust. But what had Lucy breathless was the look of pleasure that was etched into his face, his eyes closed and mouth hanging slightly open.

“Shouta *ah* you’re so beautiful. So perfect. *gasp* I’m gonna miss you so much, so much.”

“Yeah, I’m gonna miss you too. Fuck. Gonna miss this. Gonna miss seeing you every day. Shit, you better come back to me. Come back to me in one piece, just the way you are. Fuck, I’m gonna! Where should I?”

“Inside, inside of me please.”

“Say it one more time for me then.”

“Huh?”

“You know what. Fuck, call me _that _again please kitten.”__

____

____

“Daddy!”

With one last deep thrust inside of her, Aizawa released everything he had, continuing to pound into her through his orgasm until he couldn’t anymore and finally collapsing on her, releasing her legs. They both laid against each other panting until Aizawa shifted off of her to lay beside her. They laid in comfortable silence listening to each other’s breathing and their own heartbeats. The silence was eventually broken by giggling. Aizawa turned his head toward Lucy who had a large grin across her flushed face.

“What’s so funny?”

“Nothing, I just feel so happy. I don’t know how to explain it, but I don’t think I’ve ever felt this happy before. God, don’t look at me, I’m smiling like such an idiot.” Lucy covered her face with her hands as tears of joy ran down her face.

A warm feeling spread throughout Aizawa’s chest as he looked at her. Perhaps her happiness was just contagious, but he felt a grin of his own spread across his face. He removed her hands from her face, kissing the knuckles on each one before kissing her sweetly on the lips. Shifting their bodies, Aizawa held her closely from behind and planting one last kiss to her temple. He waited until her breathing evened out before his own eyes began to grow heavy. For once he fought the call of sleep for as long as he could, wishing that the night would pass slowly so that he could keep her in his arms for as long as possible.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh my god. I didn't mean for this chapter to take so long but I've been really lazy lately as well as just having to deal with stuff in my personal life. The thing is that I was just about done with this chapter last week only for my laptop to restart unexpectedly and word didn't save anything past the first page so I had to rewrite the entire chapter. Sorry for keeping all of you waiting, I'll try to get somewhat back on schedule but tbh I never know when a bout a laziness will strike me again lol. Thank you all for reading and for still supporting the story in the meantime. Until next time!  
> *Would also recommend listening to the song You're The Only Good Thing In My Life by Cigarettes After Sex during the lemon, it just adds to the experience I think


	13. Back Home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lucy finally goes home and does a few painful interviews, Aizawa gets an unexpected visitor.

5 hours. It had been 5 hours and 37 minutes since Lucy finally returned to her apartment in Crocus and it had been 2 days 2 hours and now 38 minutes since she’d left Musutafu and Shouta behind. Lucy would have laughed if it weren’t for how sad she was feeling. To think that just last week she would have done anything to just go home and return to her bed and forget all of the terrible things that had happened to her on that mission. And now that she’s finally home she found herself wishing that she could have stayed longer, long enough to go on a proper date with Shouta and long enough to do traditional couple things with him before they parted ways. Lucy let out a sad whimper into her pillow as the final moments she’d spent with Shouta played in her head.

* * *

Lucy tightly clutched onto Aizawa’s hand as they approached the dock. The more steps they took the more anxiety built in her chest as part of her wanted nothing more than to turn around and go back to Shouta’s apartment and return to the comforting warmth of him and his bed. Sadly, that wouldn’t be the case as she found herself face to face with the ramp that would board her onto the ship that would take her home. Lucy bit her lip nervously, trying to control the movement of her restless foot and turned to look at Aizawa. He was dressed in his hero attire minus the scarf, which he had left in his car, since he was meant to return to work today as well. 

He looked more tired than usual considering that they had to wake up and leave quite early and to say the least, neither one of them was particularly fond of the situation. He turned to look at her, an unreadable expression on his face, and without saying anything pulled her into an embrace that had her on the verge of crying again. Lucy wanted to laugh, she hadn’t expected herself to cry this much when she accepted the mission, but then again, she hadn’t expected any of the things that had happened on this mission to happen either. Standing on her tip toes, she buried her face in his neck, inhaling his scent for one last time as if trying to commit it to memory. Pulling away she cupped his face, rubbing her thumb against the stubble of his cheek. Maybe one day she would get to see him without it, but she doubted it would be anytime soon and right now she wouldn’t want him to change in the slightest. Closing her eyes, she leaned in hoping to get one last kiss before she left, but the only thing she got was Aizawa gently pushing her away. Opening her eyes, she looked at him in confusion. Was she making a weird face? Did her breath smell bad?

“I guess you better hurry before your boat leaves,” he said, turning his head as he let out an awkward cough. 

“Um, yeah, I guess so.” Lucy looked down at her feet. Had she done something wrong? What had changed from last night up to now? Lucy racked her head for an answer but found none. She wanted to ask but suddenly the people around them were starting to erupt with excitement, pointing at something in the sky. Looking up she caught a familiar sight of red wings and suddenly the wing hero was standing a few feet away from her. Immediately he was surrounded by fans asking for a picture, but he still turned to look at Lucy, giving her a familiar smirk and gesturing for her to come over. Lucy stopped herself from immediately leaving, turning to look at Aizawa only to find that he was nowhere to be found. A familiar sinking feeling rose in her chest and she tried her best to swallow the lump in her throat that was starting to form. Quickly turning back around, she made her way toward Hawks, dodging her way through some of his fans who were starting to leave after getting what they wanted from him. Luckily by the time she reached him most of his fans were gone by then and she could talk to him freely. His eyes lit up when he saw her, but the smile that he gave her was sad. Lucy knew that despite how little time she spent with him, she would miss him all the same and part of her hoped that they could still talk once she was gone and that maybe some day she could return and they’d have another fun day together as friends. 

“So, you’re really leaving?”

“Yup. Its been fun but, I have things I need to get back to at home. Still, thank you for everything, really.”

“You’re lucky that birds can choose not to cry. Because I could easily cry right now, but I’m not going to.” 

Lucy giggled at him. Yes, she would definitely miss him and his weird bird antics, but she didn’t want his head to get any bigger if she told him that. 

“So, where’s that boyfriend of yours? Isn’t he going to see you off?” 

At the mention of Aizawa Lucy grew silent, pressing her lips into a flat line. Even if Hawks wasn’t good at reading people, he’d still be able to tell that something was wrong. And he also would have still known better then to continue asking her about it, quickly he tried to think of something to change the subject. 

“Oh! I brought you a gift, I thought you might like it as something to remember me by.”

Tilting her head in confusion, Lucy watched as Hawks took off his glove and pulled up his sleeve. On his wrist was a large brown and gold watch, the face of the clock had a red hawk design, and Lucy stared at it in awe. Even though none of the people she knew wore watches, let alone expensive ones, she remembered the luxury watches her father collected that he showed her once when she was young. She adored the way that they looked, and she remembered when he jokingly let her wear one once, the cool metal sliding down to her elbow being far too big for her child sized wrist. At the time she swore that one day when she was as wealthy as her father she would buy as many fancy watches as she could, though obviously now she was struggling to buy food let alone expensive watches. 

“Here, I’d like you to have it.”

Lucy stared at the large timepiece wide eyed, mouth agape- “What!? There’s no way I could take something like this, it’s far too nice, it probably cost you a fortune!”

Hawks looked at her with half lidded eyes before letting out a throaty laugh. Taking off the watch, he delicately placed it around her thin wrist, smiling as the weighty accessory slid down her arm slightly.  
“Go on, I want you to have it. Besides it’s not like I’m losing much, it’s my own personal design given to me by the company. If I wanted another one, I could just ask and they’d probably give me one, or I could just buy another like a normal person. Either way, giving you this one isn’t going to affect me in the slightest. So, stop being humble and accept it.”

Lucy opened her mouth as if to protest but quickly shut it upon seeing his determined expression. She looked down at the large piece and delicately traced over the face with her fingers as if it were the most precious thing in the world. She gently smiled at it before looking up at him and bringing the man into a hug.

“Thank you, it really means a lot. I don’t know how I can repay you.”

“Think nothing of it. You can repay me by maybe bringing me to Fiore one day, I’d like to meet this guild you’re so fond of.”

Lucy lightly giggled, nodding before the sound of a horn ripped her attention away signaling the incoming departure of the boat. Quickly giving him one last hug, she hurriedly turned and ran up the ramp just as the final passengers were boarding. Looking over the railing of the deck, her eyes scanned over the people below. There weren’t many and the few that were waved at the people above, giving one last goodbye. She gave a sad smile as she spotted the wing hero waving at her, returning the gesture as the boat began to depart. She was about to turn around when she spotted something farther along the dock, standing with his arms crossed and gazing out at the ocean, his long black locks faintly blowing in the breeze. For a moment Lucy felt as their eyes met one last time, she didn’t know what the older man was thinking as they looked at each other, growing more distant as the ship continued to move. Just before he grew too out of sight, she watched as he uncrossed one of his arms, moving his fingers slightly in a faint wave. Subconsciously, Lucy found her own hand lifting and returning the motion. For the rest of the trip back to Fiore, Lucy didn’t know what she was feeling, if anything at all. It was as if her brain wasn’t processing what happened but was still trying to find an explanation and tuned out everything around her. Before she knew it, she was already at her front door, staring at the dark wood mindlessly, key in hand. 

“Excuse me ma’am. Do you live here or are you waiting for someone? Because you’ve been staring at the door for twenty minutes and it’s starting to worry the other tenants.”  
Lucy slightly jumped as she looked and saw one of the security officers of the building eyeing her down. She nervously stuttered out an answer before struggling to get her key in the lock, dropping it as her palms suddenly became incredibly sweaty. On the verge of a heart attack, she finally managed to stab her key into the hole and unlocking the door all while the security officer continued to eye her suspiciously. She practically threw herself into the apartment, her heartbeat pounding in her ears as she tried to calm her breathing. Once her heartrate had finally normalized, she looked over her familiar surroundings, it was no surprise that nothing had changed and yet she felt differently when she looked at it. 

She couldn’t help but sigh as the image of Aizawa’s apartment crossed her mind. Suddenly her apartment felt crowded to her as she looked over all of the things she owned. The morning sun shone faintly through the curtains of her living room, illuminating the particles of dust floating throughout the room. Turning on the light Lucy made her way to the kitchen; an empty feeling had grown in her stomach that she thought she could solve by eating something. Any plans of stuffing herself had gone out the window though as she looked through her refrigerator and her pantries only to remember that food money was one of the main reasons she’d taken a job in the first place. Sighing she grabbed a granola bar from the pantry, walking to her bedroom as she began to unpack her things. Luckily for her Aizawa had been more than generous with his payment, giving her more than what they initially agreed on, it made her hope that he would be alright by giving her that much money and that he would still be able to buy food for himself at the end of the day or medicine as she didn’t know if he had gotten over his illness from a few days ago. Lucy shook her head as she tried to take her mind off of the erasure hero. She shouldn’t be worrying about if he would be able to buy food when she didn’t have any herself. 

She’d gotten halfway through unpacking when she let out a yawn of exhaustion. Even though the time difference wasn’t that extreme she still felt extremely tired from having to wake up so early and her thoughts having kept her awake throughout the journey back. Lucy laid on her bed, not bothering to change clothes or take off her shoes as she closed her eyes. A faint nap surely wouldn’t hurt right? She could deal with her restless mind when her body had gotten the rest it needed and maybe she’d even have enough energy to go grocery shopping when she woke up.

* * *

That didn’t turn out to be the case as she found that her nap had been light and only left her feeling more exhausted when she opened her eyes again. Too many thoughts were running through her mind for her to be put to rest and she had a feeling they wouldn’t go away any time soon. Sitting up she tried to find something to distract herself, spotting her communication lacrima on her desk. It reminded her that she would have to call Jason and inform him of her return and apologize for taking longer than what she’d told him, hoping that he wouldn’t fire her on the spot. Faintly trembling, she waited for Jason to answer and hopefully accept her explanation that she hoped didn’t sound too unbelievable. It didn’t take long for him to answer as he gleefully greeted her, his tone sounding more relieved than anything. After numerous apologies, she explained the situation with him accepting them almost too easily. Apparently during her absence her popularity had grown significantly after people had heard that Fairy Tail wouldn’t be competing in that years games, resulting in more people finding out about their disbandment and more people wanting an explanation or to hear more from the Fairy Tail members. Being that Lucy was the easiest to find, after all she was a gravure model now, they set their sights on her for other reasons besides the obvious. 

Lucy would have been relieved if it wasn’t for the fact that Jason had informed her that this would mean her workload was expected to double in the coming weeks and that she needed to be down there as quickly as possible and to be ready to answer as many questions as possible. She was given little time to process this before he abruptly hung up, leaving her staring blankly at the floor for who knows how long before she let out a noise of shock and confusion as she hurried to her closet to change into a different outfit, hoping that she didn’t smell too bad as she wouldn’t have time to shower.  
Lacing up her shoes she quickly ran out the door barely remembering to lock it before she was running down the street to the Sorcerer Weekly building. Several questions were running through her mind as she tried to collect herself as well as hoping that the questions or the interviewers wouldn’t be too prying towards her and that they would at least be respectful. She’d had less then great experiences with interviews before and to say the least she would rather not relive them ever again.

Swinging open the doors an out of breath Lucy was met with the sight of Jason next to a group of people, each dressed differently and gave off different auras, yet each held a notepad in their hand and their eyes seemed determined as they spotted her. Lucy hardly had time to catch her breath before they all swarmed to her each one of them throwing questions at her that she could barely make out among the chaos. Lights flashed as some of them had begun taking pictures, their questions never-ending and Lucy began to feel faint. Maybe it was because she’d ran all the way here, but her breathing wasn’t evening out and her heart felt as if it were ready to leap out of her chest. Her instincts of fight or flight were kicking in and she wanted more than anything to run out of the room as quickly as she could, yet her feet remained glued to the ground as her head felt like it was spinning and she suddenly felt hyper aware of everything around her. Tears welled up in her eyes and Lucy wondered if this was the end for her. Everything that she was feeling was too intense, too much for her to handle, her legs giving out as she trembled before the large group of interviewers, their cameras still flashing still persisting, if anything they became more intense when they noticed her breaking form. Her hyperventilating had made her feel faint, she barely registered the familiar voice that was calling out her name until a familiar pink shirt entered her vision as he forced his way through the crowd until he was crouched in front of her trembling and terrified form. Jason placed gentle hands on her shoulders, shielding her from their view as he spoke softly to her. She didn’t understand what he was saying, she only knew that he was gently coaxing her to her feet, wrapping an arm around her as he carefully led her away to a quiet and secluded room away from the prying eyes of the interviewers.

Jason sat her down in one of the chairs, pulling up his own seat as Lucy cried into her hands. For a moment, there was only the sound of Lucy’s sobs throughout the small room, Jason giving her a look of pity and concern. Eventually, Lucy collected herself enough to meet his gaze through tear swollen eyes, she was sure that her face must’ve been completely flushed red and she hated herself for being so weak in front of someone that she didn’t know very well, yet she didn’t know what had come over her so suddenly. Jason still didn’t say anything as he handed her a nearby tissue box which she accepted thankfully as she blew her nose and wiped her eyes with more tissues then what she actually needed. 

“Are you okay now Lucy-san?”

“A little bit better now, thank you.”

“I’m sorry that that happened to you. I should have done more to try and stop them from doing that. You should have told me that you… you know, had a problem.”

Lucy was confused. What problem? This was just a one-time thing because she was just feeling overwhelmed. Anyone would have reacted the way she did in that situation. Right? Jason gave her a look of pity when he noticed her confused face, almost as if he knew something that she didn’t, and it made her feel like an ignorant child being looked down upon by an adult. She hated it and yet Jason said nothing as he stood up from his chair and walked toward the door, he had placed a hand on the doorknob before he stopped, not looking at her as he spoke.

“I’m going to go take care of them. Unfortunately, I can’t talk my way out of you doing any interviews today but maybe I can persuade them to at least hold off some of their questions for a later date so that you don’t… get _overwhelmed _again. You can come out whenever you’re ready and I promise that nobody here is going to judge you for this. But Lucy-san, please take care of yourself, you should talk to someone about how you’re feeling, it might really help.”__

____

____

With that, Jason exited the room leaving Lucy confused as she stared down at the box of tissues in her lap. She didn’t know what he meant by that; she was taking care of herself just fine. Sure, she felt down every now and again but didn’t everybody? Still, Lucy couldn’t ignore the painfully tight feeling in her chest that was making it hard to breathe. A part of her wondered if she should just leave and go home but she had the feeling that neither Jason or anyone else here would appreciate that and she might not have a job anymore if she went through with that plan. Sighing, she took a moment to catch her breath, inhaling deeply before she stood up and exhaled, slapping her face lightly as she approached the door. She felt her palms grow sweaty and she grasped the cool metal in her hand, her heartbeat increasing at the thought of each of those reporters being behind the door ready to bombard her with questions again. Shaking her head, she mustered up her courage and opened the door, greeted by an empty lobby, save for the receptionist typing away at the front desk. Approaching her, the young woman gave her a look of pity which Lucy was starting to not appreciate as she directed Lucy to which room she had to go to for her first interview. Nodding, Lucy walked down the long hallway, the sound of her boots clicking against the hard floor providing some distraction to her as she tried to find the room. Finding it, Lucy hoped that they wouldn’t bring up what just happened and that hopefully she didn’t look like too much of a mess. Opening the door, she was relieved to find Jason alone in the room, notepad in hand, giving her a sad smile. He motioned for her to take the seat in front of him. A recording lacrima was on a small table next to him. Lucy slowly took the seat, finding that her legs were still shaky, and she opted to cross them tightly to keep her nervousness from being too obvious. Jason asked her a few lighthearted questions about how she was feeling, how her day was going and if she had enjoyed her trip. Lucy answered halfheartedly, feeling drained already despite having just got there. Finally, the actual interview commenced with Jason asking her one last time if she was ready. Lucy nodded, giving a faint hum of acceptance before Jason turned on the lacrima, looking at the questions on his notepad. 

J: Alright, Lucy-san, I’m just going to go ahead and ask a few of the most asked questions if that’s alright with you.

L: Yeah, that’s fine. I’m ready for whatever you got!

Lucy hoped that she sounded convincing at least in the recording since it was clear from the look that Jason was giving her that he could tell she was lying. 

J: So, Fairy Tail’s been disbanded for a little over a month now. Can you tell me a bit about what happened?” 

L: Sure, we went through a lot after the battle with Tartaros and the sudden arrival of the dragons. Everyone, not just Fairy Tail, had to deal with loss and we’re all still recovering from taking such a big hit.  
At least for me, it was like we were barely given time to heal from those wounds before a new one was opened, only this time it was more emotional than physical, suddenly we were told that the guild was disbanding without a second thought. It was like a punch in the gut, having to go through such a traumatic event only to be told that the one place you could call home was no longer going to be around. Despite our protests there was nothing we could really do and so we had no choice but to go our separate ways, which some did faster than others. 

J: I’m really sorry about that Lucy-san. Fairy Tail really was such a wonderful guild, it’ll be sad not getting to hear about them anymore. Do you think there’s any chance of Fairy Tail reforming in the future?

L: I’ll always think that there’s a chance, but maybe that’s just me being optimistic. As for whether or not it’ll actually happen nothing is really certain.

J: That’s a shame. But I’m sure that if we just hold out hope we’ll see them again one day! 

L: *giggles* Yeah, I guess that’s true.

J: Do you have any idea why they would disband so suddenly though? Like you said, what happened was really hard on all of you so I would think you’d want to stick together now more than ever and even when your guildhall has been destroyed in the past you were still together. What makes now so different than the last?

Lucy paused to think, swallowing down the lump in her throat as she recounted all of the times Fairy Tail had supported each other whenever something like this happened and how they had smiled despite how injured they were or what they’d lost because they knew that no matter what, if they stayed together they could get through anything. But what about now?

L: Honestly, I don’t really know. I can only speculate but I think it has something to do with the fact that it’s because we’ve been through so much that we had to take a step back and separate. Fairy Tail was always getting involved in something so much so that we barely had time to lick our wounds before we had to face another enemy. I think master saw this as a way for us to heal and grow both mentally and physically and for us to figure ourselves out without having to worry about everyone else in the guild or who might try to attack us next. But again, that’s how I see it. 

J: *nods* Yeah, that makes sense. Speaking of the other’s; have you kept in contact with any of them? Especially from your old team.

L: Unfortunately, not. Natsu actually left before the announcement of our disbandment which made the whole thing especially hard for me since we were so close and not having him there to talk to was… difficult to say the least. As for the other members each of them left without another word to me, the most I got was a letter of goodbye from some of them but none of them really told me where they were going, but maybe it was because they didn’t know that themselves at the time either. I try to keep tabs on some of them but to this day I haven’t met with any of them in person. That being said, I don’t hold it against them, we have to figure out ourselves as individuals rather then as a team like we usually were. I just wish I could hear from them every once in a while, at least to know if they’re doing well. 

J: Have you thought about joining any other guilds? It could give you a sense of your old guild while still being able to support yourself and developing yourself as a mage. From what I heard, other guilds that you were affiliated with reached out to ex Fairy Tail members with offers of joining if only temporarily. Are there any that you would consider joining?

L: No, it is true that they reached out, but I rejected each of their offers. It’s not that I don’t appreciate what they’re trying to do, but it just doesn’t feel right for me, not right now at least. It’s because it would remind me of my old guild that I’m not choosing to affiliate myself with another guild. It would hurt too much, and I don’t want anyone to think that I’m trying to replace Fairy Tail by joining another guild, not that any of the other members are doing that if they decide to take up their offers. Plus, the part of me that believes that Fairy Tail will eventually get back together overpowers a lot of my thinking most of the time. As for if there are any that I would consider joining, I would rather not say since I don’t want anyone to get offended if I don’t choose their guild.

J: Is there anything that you’d want to say to your old guildmates if they happen to be reading this?

L: Just, that I hope they’re okay and that they’re taking care of themselves. That they’re not overworking themselves and that they’re not so focused on Fairy Tail that it’s interfering with their personal lives. Maybe one day we can meet up and have a nice chat over a drink. I just hope their lives have or will change for the best during these times.

J: Aw, gee Lucy-san you’re gonna make me cry! Thanks for taking the time to do this interview with me!

L: No problem Jason-senpai.

J: And thank you to all our faithful readers! Stay tuned for more exclusive interviews and photoshoots with the lovely Lucy-san!

Jason stopped recording and shook Lucy’s hand as they both stood up. He told her that she luckily only had to do one more interview today and the rest would be saved for later dates and that her photoshoots would be saved for tomorrow. Lucy nodded as she exited the room to go to where her next interview would be. She didn’t know what else they could possibly have to ask but she expected that eventually questions would have to get repetitive since there were only so many questions people could ask before there weren’t any unique or original questions left to ask. At least her interview with Jason had put her at ease and she didn’t feel as nervous when she approached the room for her next interview. Opening it, she was greeted by an excited woman in semi-formal attire. The woman looked like she was about to leap out of her seat when she saw Lucy, eagerly shaking the blondes hand and introducing herself rapidly before yanking her down into the interview chair. Lucy didn’t even have time to greet the woman before she was being recorded by who she thinks said her name was Akira.

A: Hi, hi Lucy-chan! How are you doing on this lovely day!

L: I’m doing fine, thank you.

A: God, can you be any more boring?

L: What?

A: Nothing! First question, your guild recently broke up as everyone now knows. Did the deaths of all those council members have anything to do with it? Was the pressure of inadvertently taking so many  
lives so heavy on you that you felt you had no choice but to break up?

L: U-um well of course it weighed heavy on all of us. Even though Fairy Tail was often getting into trouble with the council, we still saw them as our comrades and their deaths will always be a heavy weight on our shoulders. All I can really say is that we did everything we could but unfortunately there are going to be times when you can’t save everyone, no matter how hard you try. But they will always be with us in our hearts.

A: What are you, a Sunday school teacher? That was the most generic answer I’ve ever heard.

L: E-excuse me?

A: Moving on. During your time at the guild, did you have any special relationships with anyone?

L: I’m not quite sure what you mean.

A: Of course, you don’t. I mean were you romantically involved with anyone of your guildmates?

L: *Blushes* No! I wasn’t! They were all more like family to me once I was more involved with the guild.

A: Really? So, there wasn’t anyone you had any attraction towards during your entire time at the guild? Not even that salamander guy you were always with? Or the ice mage that was always stripping in front of you? You’re telling me you’ve never thought about either of them in that way?

L: No! They’re more like best friends or brothers to me. Plus, Juvia would have killed me if I tried anything with Gray…

A: I see. So, you like girls then is what you’re telling me.

L: What? It’s really none of your business who I’m attracted to and I reserve the right not to answer! 

A: Fine, geez. No need to get so offended. So, tell us. What do you find attractive in a person then?

L: *Sigh* I guess, I like someone who’s more assertive and with a good sense of humor is good enough for me.

A: You really are the embodiment of generic. You know that?

L: Can I leave now?

Unfortunately, the interview persisted for another 30 minutes before Lucy couldn’t take it anymore. Any ease that her interview with Jason had given her was taken away by the young woman in front of her. For some reason Lucy found herself unable to simply walk away from her and her prying questions, as if she were somehow keeping her anchored to the chair. Lucy breathed a sigh of relief as Akira finally brought the interview to a close, putting on her cheerful façade again as she shook Lucy’s trembling hand with the same energy she had when they first started the interview although now her grip seemed a lot more crushing. Lucy walked out of the building feeling like 10 years was just taken off her lifespan as she headed home. Lucy hung her head, staring down at her feet as she walked. The sun was starting to set although it was hard to see the horizon with all of the buildings in the way. She at least took some pleasure in being able to see the beautiful orange sky, it reminded her of her first encounter with Hawks and it made her wonder what the wing hero may be up to right now. But of course, thoughts of him brought thoughts of Shouta as well. Their last encounter rewinding itself in her mind as she played it out over and over again. It made her want to bang her head against a wall in frustration at how he was behaving. 

Was it just the age difference that was making it so hard for her to understand him? Was it just a guy thing? Or was it just a him thing? She thought about it all the way to her apartment, coming back to the familiar door that she had been standing in front of just that morning. Only now she hurriedly got inside before security was called on her again. 

* * *

To say Aizawa was once again in a less then stellar mood would be an understatement. It had been a couple of days since Lucy had left and while he had been upset about it at first, he quickly found himself falling into his old routine again and before he knew it his mind rarely traveled to the blonde with how much work he was having to deal with, villain related or not. He had just gotten done taking down one of the more small-time villains that he usually came across on the streets when he had received a call from Kayama. He already had a bad feeling about it which only confirmed itself when she revealed that not only had she taken it upon herself to submit a recommendation form for him to UA but that he had been accepted and was soon going to start his new career as a teacher in the coming months. 

He groaned as he rubbed his temple, plopping himself down on his couch and tossing his capture weapon somewhere nearby. He had specifically told her that he didn’t want anything to do with being a teacher and yet she had to go and do that anyway. Aizawa was someone who could barely stand talking to adults let alone children, and to say he didn’t think he’d have the patience for it would be putting it lightly. He also didn’t have much interest in ever returning to the large building that was once his school and stand at the podium where his very own teacher once stood. It felt, unsettling to him in a way that he didn’t think many would understand. He was about to turn in for the night when there came a knock at the door. There were many things that Aizawa could have predicted being behind the door, Hizashi, Kayama, a villain out to get revenge on him. But, the number three hero holding a bucket of fried chicken and lazy smile on his face was not one of them.  
Aizawa could only stare at the shorter man, his mind still trying to process what he was looking at as Hawks continued to awkwardly stand there smiling. 

“Good evening, Eraserhead-san. May I come in?”

Aizawa only blinked as he moved to the side away from the doorway allowing the younger man to enter, careful not to accidentally bump into his wings. He watched as Hawks scanned his apartment, taking in all of the minimal furniture and lack of much of anything, letting out a low whistle. Aizawa felt annoyed as Hawks walked past him into his small kitchen, placing the bucket of chicken on the counter before taking a seat and grabbing a drumstick from the pile. Aizawa still didn’t know what in the world was going on or why the number three hero was sitting in his kitchen eating fried chicken, but he didn’t like it.

“What are you doing here Hawks?”

Hawks swallowed the bite he was chewing, “I just came to stop by and have a little chat is all.”

“About what?”

“About Lucy of course.”

Aizawa tensed at the mention of her name. He’d been trying not to talk about her and even ignored Mic’s constant badgering of questions and apologies the last time he saw him, acting as if he didn’t know what he was talking about. But now he was practically being forced to talk about her with the last person he ever wanted to talk with period. He furrowed his brow, taking a seat in front of him as the wing hero continued to eat like it was the most normal thing in the world. 

“Listen Hawks. I don’t exactly appreciate you just coming in here and-" 

“That was really mean what you did the other day.”

“Huh?”

“Leaving her all sad like that, not even saying goodbye to her before she left. Shame on you Eraser.”

“How did you- “

“But that’s not what’s important. What I am here to talk about though is your relationship with Lucy. I’m going to need you to tell me everything you know about her as well as whatever information you divulged to her during her time spent here.”

Aizawa clenched his fist, the air around them growing more tense and Aizawa had to restrain himself from doing something he’d regret to the wing hero. “Why do you need to know that?”

“I’ve been sent here by the HPSC to gain as much information about her as I can. They fear that she may be a threat and could just be using you to gain information for an attack on us in the future.”  
Hawks couldn’t deny that he was slightly startled as Aizawa’s fist forcefully came down to slam against the countertop. Although he had been expecting him to do something based on how Aizawa had tensed more and more the longer he spoke he half expected the man to punch him. 

“How can you say that!? You’ve met Lucy and know just as well as I do that she wouldn’t do something like that! She’s just a girl that got caught up in the wrong situation, she’s not some undercover spy looking to launch an attack on us!”

“But do we know that for sure? Believe me Eraser, it hurts me just as much to accuse my dove of something like this, but we can never be too sure with mages. You know how tense things are between us, they could be plotting something, and we’d never know it. Which is why I need you to tell me anything that she may have told you that you think could help us in finding out the truth. As well as what your relationship is with her right now. You’re a man of logic, don’t let your feelings fog your eyes from the truth.”

Aizawa glared at the blonde man but made no move to attack him. Taking a deep breath, he unclenched his fist and took a moment to gather his thoughts. 

“I would also like to let you know that if it’s suspected that you’re withholding important information from me that I reserve the right to arrest you.”

“Are you threatening me Hawks?”

“Not a threat Eraser, a promise.”

Aizawa’s patience finally snapped as he grabbed the young hero by the collar, said man only giving him an aloof grin, unbothered by the rage emanating from the older man. Hawks was prepared to take any action he saw as necessary should a problem arise, but beneath his cool exterior he knew not to underestimate the erasure hero. Even if his quirk wasn’t the most powerful attack wise, he knew that Eraserhead hadn’t gotten this far on pure luck and he knew it wouldn’t be an easy battle if it came down to hand to hand combat. Hawks felt his neck cramping from being forced to look up at the raven-haired man and he didn’t know how much time had passed of him staring into the hard now red eyes of Aizawa. He had to admit that the older hero had an intimidation factor to his quirk, something that he would never want to encounter down a dark alleyway should he find himself in that situation. While he didn’t think that anyone would ever be better than Endeavor, he realized that Eraserhead was cool in his own way, even if he had one of the lowest approval ratings out of any hero. 

Setting Hawks down, Aizawa moved towards his front door, placing his hand on the doorknob before answering.

“There’s nothing she hasn’t told me that you haven’t already heard. As for what she knows, she knows how boring my life has been and that not all heroes are the celebrities we make them out to be. I told her that because I’m trying to look after her, after all isn’t that what _boyfriends _are supposed to do?”__

____

____

Hawks felt his feathers harden at his words, his gaze sharpening slightly towards the underground hero. He felt a comeback begin to form in the back of his throat, but before he could say another word Aizawa opened the door gesturing towards the dark parking lot outside his apartment. Despite his blank expression, his grip on the door was white-knuckled and the air around him was thick enough to cut with a knife.

“I gave you your answers, now get the hell out of my house.”

Getting off the chair, he casually walked towards the door, unfazed by the glare he could feel on the back of his head as he stood in the doorway. “Is that a boyfriend thing? Or is that you being her father instead of her lover?”

He didn’t give Aizawa the chance to respond as he quickly took off into the night sky, a small batch of feathers left behind in his wake. Aizawa slammed the door behind him, officially labeling this as one of the worst nights of his life. Sitting at the chair in his kitchen once again, he glared at the bucket of chicken that had been left behind by Hawks. He had half a mind to throw away the offending red and white striped bucket, but his growling stomach and the lack of food in his fridge made him decide otherwise. Reluctantly he grabbed a piece and ate the semi cold chicken, his mind traveling back to Hawks’ final words. Who was he to accuse him of something like that? He didn’t know anything about him or his relationship, which was still a new thing for both of them. There was no way that he would have even had the time to do anything remotely father-like towards Lucy. Not that he had any intention of ever doing so. He knew that Hawks was just trying to get under his skin and that he shouldn’t give his words any thought but he couldn’t deny the pulling feeling he got in the back of his mind, like somehow the wing hero knew something that he didn’t. Frustrated, he threw the bones back into the bucket and got ready for bed. Laying down he checked his phone one last time; he hadn’t contacted Lucy since she’d left, and a feeling of guilt was building inside him more and more the longer he sat not calling or texting. He knew that Lucy was probably feeling weird about things herself after their departure and he regretted not kissing her one last time before she was gone, but he’d found that his heart felt like it would break in half the longer she spent touching him, to kiss her felt like he would die if it happened. So, like an idiot, he pulled away and left her hanging, not wanting to suffer more by telling her goodbye, instead only giving her a wave, and hoping she wouldn’t hate him too much. 

He opened up their text conversation, tapping on the text box and typing out a message, his finger hovering over the send button before he let out a frustrated groan and deleted it, turning off his phone. Aizawa would never admit to anyone that ever since she’d left all he’d done was type and delete message after message ranging from paragraphs of apologies to one-word greetings. He was never the best at text conversation especially with people younger than him, he found that they had an odd way of speaking over text that only annoyed him and made him wish they could just talk like normal people. Rolling onto his side, he stared at the night sky through his window, there was no way that Lucy was just looking to use him for an attack. Her emotions were too genuine, what she had gone through was too real, it was too elaborate for her to go through the trouble of being turned into a cat, get beaten up while a cat, and get taken up by him specifically. He didn’t know much about Ishgar, but he didn’t think they would go through the trouble of sending someone out to go through this many issues just to get some trivial information about himself and the heroes. She hadn’t even asked him much about his work or what heroes actually had to do in order to become legitimate heroes in the society. The HPSC was just being biased towards mages and it made him sick to his stomach. Was this really what the HPSC was doing? Was their relationship with mages really so awful that any mage that set foot on their land was seen as a threat? Groaning he smothered his face in his pillow, he knew that hero society wasn’t perfect, knew that every hero wasn’t as chivalrous as they marketed themselves to be, and day by day he felt like more people were beginning to see that. Maybe things were the same where Lucy was from? Aizawa stared up at the ceiling as a thought crossed his mind, the possibility of him leaving to see for himself. He mentally shook his head, closing his eyes, it would be foolish of him to just up and leave to a different country so suddenly, and if what Hawks was saying was anything to go by, he had the feeling that he was going to be kept a close eye on for a while. It would probably look suspicious to them if he left for Ishgar so soon after Lucy was here. Besides, he had other more practical things to worry about, like how in a few weeks he would go from being Aizawa the underground hero to Aizawa, the teacher.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys, thanks for reading yet another chapter of this story. I can't believe this has already gotten more than 1,000 hits! I didn't think that very many people would read it let alone enjoy it this much and it makes me really happy knowing that people are this interested. Hopefully you guys will stick through to the end and let me know what you guys think of the story so far. Until next time, thank you for reading!


	14. Interview

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lucy meets up with an old friend and Aizawa can't catch a break.

Lucy was currently wondering how Mirajane ever spent so much time as a model. Sure, when she first joined the guild she would have done anything to be on the front cover of Sorcerer Weekly as she’d seen Mira do so many times, but now that she was here she gained a newfound respect for Mira and anyone else who had to do such uncomfortable photoshoots. Currently, she was trying her best to sit as upright as possible in the soapy water whilst keeping her legs as elevated as she could. The sides of the metal water trough were starting to dig into her hands and her face was hurting from the different facial expressions they were making her do, not to mention her knees were starting to cramp from being told to slightly adjust their position for what felt like hours. She would have been glad that they were at least making sure that the water was as warm as possible, but it only made her legs and shoulders feel colder by comparison, the photographer insisting that her skin be as wet as possible.

Finally, after Lucy was sure that her skin was about to fall off from how long she’d spent in the water, the photographer called a wrap on the photoshoot. An assistant was quickly by her side to help her out of the trough and wrap a towel around her. This was her fifth and final photoshoot for the day which probably didn’t sound that bad until she had had to put on hundreds of different clothes ranging from swimsuits to underwear, to shirts and dresses, she’d worn it all today and to say the least, her skin was feeling more than a little irritated. After looking over the photos and making sure she was comfortable with them; she was finally allowed to go home for the day. Looking at herself in the mirror, she sighed as she looked at how red her skin was, normally she wouldn’t have had to do this many but her not so short break had piled on demands for her and Jason had quickly accepted each of them before they retracted their offers. She could at least revel in the fact that she was getting paid quite a lot for these and it was likely that she at least wouldn’t have to worry about food or rent money for quite some time with the money that Shouta had also given her. Plus, she got free underwear and swimsuits out of some of them. Walking down the street, bag in hand, her mind wandered once again to Shouta, this made day four of not hearing from him and her emotions ranged from sad, to angry, to worried, and tired, sometimes within the span of five minutes. It was times like these she wished she had Mira or Levy to ask for help, but she couldn’t rely on them forever, even if it was for something like relationship issues. Besides, she couldn’t just put all the blame on him, she hadn’t exactly been going out of her way to contact him either, but to be fair her work had piled on and she’d found herself too tired to do anything but get home and shower before she went to bed, and it made her wonder if it was the same for Aizawa. Just as Lucy was wondering if she should head straight home or stop by somewhere to eat, she was caught off guard by the sound of someone calling her name.

Turning around, she dropped her bag, her mouth hanging open at the sight before her. Running through the large crowd of people, waving at her like a maniac was a familiar brunette holding a bottle of alcohol in one hand, the other was being used to shove other people away and wave at her at the same time. Cana hadn’t changed much, and Lucy suddenly found herself running with the same eagerness towards her old guildmate. Bystanders watched in confusion as the two women embraced with an almost tackling force, laughing as they swayed from side to side in joy and relief.

“What are you doing here Cana?” Lucy asked, pulling away from the taller woman, the smile never leaving her face.

“Funny story actually. I have a friend that works at Sorcerer Weekly who let me listen to your interview early and well, it sounded like you needed a friend, so I came down seeing as I was in the area already. So, what do ya say? How’s about we get that drink you were talking about?”

And that was how Lucy currently found herself in a nearby bar, sitting next to her tipsy friend who was on her 12th drink while she still cradled her first mug of beer. After their small talk about how each of them had been doing since the disbandment, they each began to open up as the alcohol began slowly kicking in.

“How come you’re not with your dad? I thought Gildarts would have wanted you two to stick together.”

Cana slammed down her beer, getting an annoyed look on her face at the mention of her father. “Yeah, he did, but it’ll be a cold day in hell before I go on another mission with him. The last time I did he was too protective over me and didn’t let me do anything on that mission. Not to mention all the needless flirting he did with every female we encountered. Honestly, I can’t stand him sometimes and besides, I’ve been enjoying my freedom since Fairy Tail disbanded. No one to tell me what to do, getting to travel wherever I want, and getting to drink as much booze as I want, it really is the life.”

Lucy stared down at the amber liquid in her mug as she thought about Cana’s words. This whole time she’d been worrying nonstop about everyone else that she hadn’t seen the good things that came with being on her own. While she was worried about her lack of direction Cana had taken advantage of it to go wherever she wanted, whenever she wanted, and she felt a slight bit of envy towards the older woman for being so carefree.

“But never mind me, what’s new with you? It’s been almost two months, surely something new had to have happened.”

Lucy choked on her beer, her face going red as she began fumbling over her words. There was no way she could tell her about what happened the previous week, it was way too embarrassing. But she knew it would look suspicious if she didn’t say anything with the reaction she was having. She would probably have to lie herself out of this one. But what was she supposed to say?

“Come on now. I already know you’re having guy troubles so just come out with it.”

“E-eh?”

“My cards told me that recently you’ve had a complicated time with your love life. Your emotions are all over the place and you're wondering if it’s going to work out or not. I’m right aren’t I?”

Lucy’s mouth hung open in shock, her face red as she sighed in defeat. She should have known better than to try and hide something like this from Cana, but she didn’t know how to talk about it without sounding like an awkward teenager. Looking around Lucy tried to keep her voice down while still being loud enough for Cana to hear.

“Fine, you win. Last week, I went on a mission that didn’t exactly go as planned and it ended with me living with this guy for a short time since my money got stolen. During that time things kind of… escalated between us and I guess we’re kind of dating now but he’s been acting so weird this whole time that I don’t know what he’s even thinking about this whole thing. I’m just so confused, I really like him, but I just don’t know how to feel about this whole thing.”

Cana nodded her head knowingly. Part of her felt a sense of pride for her friend finally finding herself a guy to be with, while the other half felt protective over the younger woman. She knew that Lucy wasn’t exactly the most experienced when it came to relationships and she knew that Lucy was probably expecting a romance out of a storybook, but she knew better than anyone how fickle love could be sometimes and it was the last thing she wanted for the blonde mage.

“Believe me, Luce, men are always going to be confusing creatures to women just as women are going to be confusing to men. The only thing we can do is listen, put ourselves out there, and hope that it plays out in our favor. So, what kind of guy are we working with? What’s he like? Is he in a guild? What kind of magic does he use?”

“U-um…” Lucy began to sweat profusely, her mouth feeling dry, wondering if she should just be honest or not with the card mage.

“Well, he’s tall, well built, not much of a people person and he’s very logic-driven. He doesn’t really seem to care what others think about him, so he does and says whatever he feels like, even if it comes off as rude. But, he’s very kind and caring towards me, even if I think he teases me a bit too much. The thing is though, he’s been a bit weird towards me as well, it’s like whenever he shows me affection, he gets all odd and distant towards me afterward. He said he wasn’t going to do it anymore but when it was time for me to leave, he just kind of disappeared and only gave me a wave at the end. He’s so confusing Cana, I really care about him and I want this to work out but I’m starting to have doubts, hell, he hasn’t even tried to contact me since I’ve left!”

“Hm, hm. He certainly sounds like, something. But remind me again; how long have you known him for?”

“A little more than a week now.”

“You haven’t even known this man a month and you’re surprised that he’s being unpredictable? Come on Lucy I thought you were smarter than this.”

“Don’t judge me! Things with him are just different you know?”

“As said by all hopeless romantics at one point. Listen Lucy don’t go around thinking that this man is your soulmate just because he treated you a bit nicely. That’s how all failed relationships start, and it only ends with your feelings getting hurt. It was only one week; how much could have possibly happened? Have you two even gone on a date yet?”

“Well no but- “

“But nothing, most people barely get to the kissing stage in the first week. Tell me; have you two kissed yet?”

Something between fear and guilt was building in Lucy’s stomach and was threatening to make her puke the half mug of beer she’d just ingested. But alongside it she’d found anger and defiance forming as well, making her want to argue her relationship to her friend until she saw things through her perspective.

“Actually, we have!”

“Oh yeah? And when did that happen?”

Lucy’s face paled as her mouth closed shut, looking away from her friend and instead taking a long drink from her mug.

“Lucy? Is there something that you’re not telling me?”

More drinking.

“… Wait… no… you didn’t. Lucy, please tell me that you did NOT have your first kiss during sex with this man!”

“Ssssshhhh! Please keep it down someone will hear you!”

“Well did you!?”

Lucy let out a drawn-out sigh in defeat. “Yes. Yes, we did.”

Cana pinched the bridge of her nose in annoyance and disappointment. “At least tell me that it was during your last day with him and it was at least meaningful in some way.”

Lucy blushed, feeling uncomfortable with how personal these questions were becoming despite being in such a public place. She wanted to blame the alcohol for how her friend was acting, but she knew that even without the alcohol Cana never had much of a filter to begin with. Always saying or doing things that would send the blonde into an embarrassed fit.

“I guess it was, the second time we did it…”

Cana spat out her drink as she stared at her friend wide-eyed. Even though it had only been a month she would have never predicted such a change in her friend. She always saw Lucy as more of an immature teen in the body of a well-developed woman. Someone that was so naïve about the world and yet tried to do things that she thought made her look mature, even if it was obvious to others that she was out of her element. She put her hands on the younger girl's shoulders, looking her straight in the eye.

“Lucy. How long did you know him the first time you had sex?”

“Technically… less than a day.”

Cana’s mouth hung open as she leaned her head against the celestial mage’s shoulder. It was clear to her that Lucy needed to face the truth and to gain her first lesson in relationships, specifically the painful truth about certain types of relationships.

“Lucy, I’m going to tell you something very important as your friend and as someone who’s been through this already. But this man that you’re seeing only sees you as a walking fleshlight.”

Lucy’s world seemed to warp into nothing as her friend’s words rang in her head. No. There was no way that that was true…

“W-what?”

“Just look at the facts, you slept with him before you’d even known him a day, you say that he started acting distant anytime after you two were more “affectionate”, and the day you left he didn’t even bother saying goodbye. It sounds to me like the only thing he sees is your body. Tell me, were there times when he would try to get into your pants and act distant after you told him ‘no’?”

Lucy’s eyes began to tear up as she thought back to when she’d helped Shouta with his wounds and he tried to sleep with her again and how cold he’d behaved the next morning. Her heart felt like it was breaking, and she badly wanted to defend him, he’d been too kind, too gentle with her for him to just see her as someone he could bang and nothing else. What they’d shared their last night together meant something, he was worried about her and he wanted her to come back to him safely. Those words weren’t something you would say to just anyone, certainly not someone you saw as only a bed partner. Lucy felt as Cana’s hand came up to wipe away a tear that had ran down her face, pulling her into a gentle hug as she began to soothingly stroke her hair. Cana smelled of something citrusy and tropical mixed with rum and whiskey. A strange mix of feminine and masculine all at once but in her current state, it only gave her a headache. Lucy pulled away and wiped her eyes aggressively, she knew that the older woman meant well but she didn’t know Shouta the way she did. Even if they didn’t know each other very long, what she felt was too intense for it to just be a sexual relationship, it had to be. Otherwise, she didn’t think her heart could handle if that’s how Aizawa really saw her.

Cana gave her a look of pity before ordering her a shot from the bar. Even though she knew that Lucy wasn’t much of a drinker, alcohol was always there to cheer the card mage up in her darkest moments. So, what was the harm in wanting to cheer her friend up? And from the looks of things, she needed something especially strong to get her through this. Cana slid over the shot of clear liquid to the upset mage, Lucy looking at it through irritated eyes.

“What is this?”

“Just a little pick me up. Trust me, you’ll feel better once you get it over with.”

Lucy looked at the small glass in concern. She knew better than to trust Cana about what she should be drinking, especially if she thought it would make her ‘feel better’. Looking at the card mage she watched as the woman threw back the shot with ease but didn’t miss the slight twitch in her face before she reached for her water. Now Lucy definitely didn’t want anything to do with the deceptively innocent-looking shot. Picking it up, she tentatively sniffed it only to cringe in disgust as the overwhelming smell of alcohol burned her nostrils. She heard a laugh come from the card mage and she soon came to wrap an arm around Lucy.

“Well come on then drink up!”

“No way! This stuff is probably going to kill me!”

“I’m still standing, aren’t I?”

“Yeah, but you drink alcohol for breakfast, of course, you’re not fazed!”

“Oh, quit whining and just drink it!”

Lucy turned her head, her lips tightly closed as Cana brought the shot up to her mouth in a vain attempt to get her to drink it. As far as Lucy was concerned it might as well have been gasoline that she was trying to get her to drink. Something that would have turned her into the next Natsu with how flammable her breath would suddenly feel. But despite her attempts, Cana had a sneaky way of getting what she wanted, and Lucy suddenly found herself bursting out laughing as the woman’s nimble fingers tickled her sides. Her joy was short-lived as she suddenly found her throat set ablaze by the foul-tasting liquid, being sent into a coughing fit as her body tried to rid itself of the unwelcome visitor. It felt like her whole mouth was on fire and even the coolness of her water wasn’t doing much to rid the intense feeling.

“What was that!?”

“A vodka spirytus, one of the strongest drinks you can get. Can also double as rubbing alcohol.”

Lucy glared at her friend as she ordered another glass of water, chugging it as Cana almost laughed herself out of her stool. Lucy’s throat still felt uncomfortable but not as much as it had been earlier, feeling slightly regretful of agreeing to go for drinks with the card mage when she knew she would try something like this and there was no possible way she could keep up with her.

“See? That wasn’t so bad! Goes down smooth doesn’t it?”

Lucy rubbed at her neck and gave her friend an unamused look, knowing full well that Cana just saw her about to choke.

“Well now isn’t the time to slow down! Hurry and drink as much as you can!”

Lucy could only watch horrified as Cana ordered more drinks, passing some over to her, each different in their own way. From small shots to glass bottles, mugs, and dainty glasses, some were sweet, and others tasted more like rocket fuel. One after another until Lucy couldn’t remember how many she’d drank or how much time had passed. She could only remember the warm feeling in her chest and how much fun she was having, laughing, and dancing with Cana late into the night. How she got home would forever be a mystery to her. But her last clear thought was of her puking over her toilet as Cana held back her hair and rubbing her back soothingly. The rest of the night was nothing, but a blur known only to those sober enough to have witnessed it.

* * *

While Aizawa was never the most attuned person when it came to situations he didn’t care for, but even he was having an easy time noticing the not so inconspicuous character following him around. He knew it was likely that the HPSC would be keeping an eye on him, but he expected it to be a bit more subtle than this. The suit-clad man had raised his suspicions from the moment he saw him across the street from his apartment complex, sitting on a nearby bench feigning reading a newspaper. He could only sigh in annoyance as he carried on with his day as if nothing were wrong. He was surprised that the man was keeping up with him throughout his patrol even when he was busy taking down villains, running on powerlines, and jumping from building to building. Somehow his stalker was always one step behind him, and he didn’t know whether to respect him or be terrified of him.

But the day seemed to be full of surprises as he suddenly found the man approaching him in the middle of his patrol. He didn’t say much, only flashed his badge showing that he was, in fact, a member of the HPSC and asked him to come quietly. Despite his stoic expression, Aizawa felt a slight fear rise in his chest, as most anyone would when a government official asked them to come with them. The man brought Aizawa to an all-black car with tinted windows, the ride to the HPSC building was silent and seemed to drag on longer then what Shouta would have liked. But soon enough the car came to a halt and Aizawa stared up at the tall building, despite its nonthreatening appearance, he knew that some of the most important decisions made in the hero world were made here and it would be unwise to get on their bad side. He was led inside and asked to remove any weapons he had on his person, including his capture weapon, doing so willingly but left him feeling defenseless as he followed the man into an elevator. They reached the top floor where Shouta was quickly taken to what looked like a conference room, the room itself was dim despite it being afternoon time and the windows having nothing to obscure them. Desks were arranged in a U shape where several men all dressed in suits sat, their gazes sharp as they looked at him. The door was quickly shut behind him as his stalker told him to have a seat in one of the chairs in front of him while they waited. Swiftly, Shouta sat down as quickly as he could, trying his best to not make any unnecessary movements as he sat as still as he could, feeling like a smaller animal under the gaze of a hungry t-rex, one wrong move and he’d be devoured for sure. Luckily, something soon happened before pins and needles could set in as the door behind him opened and closed and the men’s gazes were briefly torn away from him, standing up and bowing in respect.

The president of the HPSC was an elderly woman with a serious face and slicked back fading blonde hair. She gave the men a brief greeting before taking a seat at the empty desk in the center, looking directly at him, her gaze pointed and heavy wasting no time with introductions before she was already questioning him.

“Do you know why you’re here Eraserhead?”

“I’m afraid not ma’am.”

Of course, Aizawa knew full well what this was about but on the 1% chance that it wasn’t, he didn’t want to out himself. The woman squinted her gaze at him, crossing her hands in front of her face as she continued.

“This is about your involvement with the mage that arrived here and departed recently. We’ve heard from our sources that you were housing her for about a week, in that time you developed a close relationship with her. Are we correct?”

“Yes, that is true.”

The woman opened a file on her desk, shuffling through her papers until she settled on one and looked it over. 

“Normally we wouldn’t look into matters such as this considering that it was discovered that she came here on a mission request. However, considering her mission should have lasted no longer than two days we were put on high alert when it was reported she never left on the second day. The woman, Lucy Heartfilia, tell us what you know about her and what happened to her after her mission, all of your responses will be recorded and documented for investigative purposes.”

Aizawa gripped onto the edges of his chair, feeling a mix of nervousness and annoyance. He hated repeating himself, but this whole thing was annoying him. He didn’t want to repeat himself to a group of people who were suspecting an innocent woman of being a spy just because of where she came from and the abilities she was born with.

“The night of her mission, I was walking home after getting off of my patrol for the night. I heard a commotion in a nearby alley and decided to investigate, finding a group of teens torturing a cat. They ran away after seeing me and I went to go make sure the cat was okay, deciding to take it home with me to treat its wounds until I could get it proper medical help. It wasn’t until the next day that I discovered that the cat was the woman, Lucy Heartfilia, she told me that one of the teens from the alley had hit her with his quirk which turned her into a cat. Unfortunately, her belongings were lost when she transformed so I agreed to help her find them when we went back to the alley it was discovered that the teens had stolen her money leaving her with no way to return home. I decided to help her, offering her money in exchange for doing some chores around the house, something that she’d only have to do for a week. She agreed and nothing much happened after that, once the week was up, I gave her the money and sent her on her way home, I haven’t contacted her since.”

The room erupted with murmurs from each of the men as they each discussed his story, the president holding up her hand silencing the room.

“And why is it that you didn’t simply give her the money to send her home after you found out her money was stolen?”

“I felt sympathetic towards her. But I wouldn’t feel comfortable giving away my money to just anyone, especially someone who I don’t know very well. I saw it as a logical solution to not only see if she was trustworthy but to also relieve myself of more mundane responsibilities my hero work doesn’t allow me to get done normally.”  
The president nodded her head thoughtfully while the rest of the room looked at him critically, some even in disgust as if they couldn’t fathom why he would even think to do something like that.

“I see where you’re coming from. But, Eraserhead, I think it’d be best for you and everyone else if you kept your sympathies to yourself in these situations. The last thing we need is mages running around here disturbing the peace and making everyone else feel inferior.”

Aizawa felt his eye twitch, biting the inside of his cheek to refrain from saying anything he would regret. The men nodded in agreement while the president flipped through more of the file, pulling out multiple pieces of paper and skimming them through. There was a subtle change in her expression, her breath faltering and she bit her nail slightly, her face looking as if she’d just stepped in something foul but was gone just as quickly.

“As you may know, one of our operatives, Hawks, has also come into contact with this mage and he was the first one to tell us about her whereabouts. We tasked him with getting as much information about her as he could without raising her suspicions by whatever means necessary and a good majority of this information involves you. From these testimonies you had… quite the relationship with this Heartfilia person. I would just like for you to confirm that the relationship that you had was a romantic one.”

If the men at the table didn’t make it clear how disgusted they were before then they certainly did now. Several pandering and insulting questions were thrown at him which he paid no mind to. The last thing he cared about was what a bunch of mindless underlings thought about his relationship, heck the whole world could tell him they didn’t agree, and he still wouldn’t give them a second thought.

“Yes, yes, it is.”

“And how far has your relationship with her gone?”

Aizawa couldn’t help the slight eye roll that occurred at her question. He knew where this was going, and he didn’t feel like going into depth about how in-depth he went with his girlfriend. Sadly, he didn’t think he was getting out of this anytime soon.

“If I’m allowed to ask. Why does it concern you?”

The woman gave him a stern look. “I will tell you after you answer.”

Aizawa sighed, trying to maintain seriousness. “We’ve had sexual relations on more than one occasion since I know that that’s what you’re really asking about.”

The men in the room raised their brows, some looked impressed while others maintained a look of disgust. What irked him was what they were muttering as they looked at what he assumed was a picture of Lucy from files of their own. Some didn’t even try to keep their voice down as they made demeaning comments about her, while he knew that he could get away with grabbing Hawks a bit forcefully, he knew that he might as well kiss his hero career goodbye if he even looked at them wrong. He didn’t understand why the president didn’t say anything, only giving them the same hand she had moments ago, less of a “refrain from making inappropriate comments about people” and more of a “please keep your voice down” sort of order. He dug his nails into his palms as the men continued their vile banter, only with more hushed tones, one, in particular, making eye contact with him before looking down at the photo and giving it a lecherous smirk, running a finger along the photo. He heard as the president once again began to speak but it was one ear out the other with him before he interrupted her.

“If it would be so inappropriate to ask. Is this not a place of business?”

“What kind of question is that? Of course, it is.”

“Which means that everything must be done with complete seriousness and professionalism no matter the circumstance.”

“What are you- “

“This is the place that mediates how heroes interact with the public. The place that makes sure the heroes don’t say the wrong thing and make us look bad. You’re the people that make sure that the public knows that they can trust heroes, that they’ll always be there to save them no matter the situation whether it’s a high-ranking criminal or helping children find their parents. You make sure that we’re painted in the best light possible, despite who we may be as people.”

“What are you getting at Eraserhead?”

“So why is it that even though you manage heroes all day, you can’t even find a shred of human decency in yourselves to not talk about a woman as offensively as you do? You’re the ones telling heroes how to act and yet you yourselves aren’t behaving any better than prepubescent children in the locker room. I would’ve hoped that people of your status would act like adults and have brains developed enough to realize that that kind of talk has no place in a business setting or anywhere for that matter. The fact that you’re allowing your own personal biases affect how you treat the opposite gender only shows how undeserving you are of your position.”

The room erupted with angry comments from the table, comments ranging from how he had no right to speak to them like that, to how mages didn’t deserve their respect. Aizawa felt another argument rising in his chest but before anyone could get another word out, the president's hand was raised yet again and any comments that anyone thought of saying were suddenly lost. The president had a blank look on her face as she looked over the men, Aizawa included and cleared her throat.

“First of all, please refrain from making such outbursts again or this interview will end less than ideal for you, Eraserhead. Secondly, no further comments will be made again regarding miss Heartfilia from anyone in this room. I understand that you hold disdain, but please save your comments for your own time outside of this establishment.”

The men gave their apologies, more to her than to him, and gave their best poker face as if everything that had occurred just a minute ago never happened. Aizawa remained silent, instead looking down at his clenched fists which rested in his lap. He hated this entire situation and the fact that he was even experiencing it. His entire life he’d spent trying to stay as under the radar as possible, or at least as possible as he could given his hero status, and suddenly his once-peaceful life was being torn away from him because of one girl. One girl who busted down the door to his life without the common decency to even knock first. He wanted to hate her, wanted to feel some kind of negative emotion towards her for getting him here in front of these horrible people arguing over the equivalent of tangerines vs. oranges. Yet, he couldn’t. No matter how hard he wanted to, he couldn’t blame her for everything, he knew that, and yet that didn’t stop him from wishing he could just go back to ignoring the fact that mages even existed like he used to.

“If there are no more interruptions I would like to continue.”

Aizawa blinked.

“Since you have confirmed that you have had sexual relations with this woman who you’ve known for only a week.” Giving Aizawa a not-so-subtle look of judgment. “The follow-up question to that would be: Did you use protection on both of those occasions?”

Aizawa crossed his arms, leaning back in his chair and trying not to roll his eyes. “No ma’am. I’m afraid I went in bare on both occasions and didn’t even bother to pull out.”

Shouta held back a grin of amusement as for a moment he noticed her composure crack ever so slightly. Her eye twitched and the look of disdain could have been missed if one were to blink, clicking her pen with more force than what was necessary. 

“I hope you understand the dangers that your actions can cause us Eraserhead. I’m not simply talking about the possibilities of STD’s, but the possibilities of pregnancy are also much more dire. As of right now an offspring of a mage and a quirk user is unheard of and we don’t know what dangers the baby could face if it even manages to survive. Not to mention the backlash the both of you would face if this ever got out. I’ll admit, this is quite shocking for me to hear from you given what I’ve heard from your colleagues and acquaintances. I never took you to be the kind of man who acted before thinking.”

Aizawa flinched at her words and yet he didn’t feel as afraid as what she might have hoped for. Instead of cowering before the thought of a mutant mage quirk user baby, he instead found himself wondering if he even wanted kids. Right now, he was in no position to even be thinking about such things, he was simply too busy for much of anything right now. But he supposed that maybe one day if he ever found himself too injured to continue with hero work, he could retire early, hang up his capture weapon and enjoy his free time. He held back the faint smile that threatened to creep on his face as he thought of moving out somewhere in the country, far away from the city and its troublesome people where he could just lay back and enjoy the breeze, a cat on his lap, sitting on the porch as he looked over the fields of gold. But even among that gold, he’d still be able to make out her hair as she sat and braided flowers into their child’s hair, the warmth of her smile rivaling that of the sun as her gaze turned to him, her brown eyes tender as she whispered words of love to him, still audible despite the distance.

“Eraser! Are you even listening?”

But those golden fields would have to wait as he came back to earth, and back to the dimly lit room, too quiet for its own good.

“I figure that you’ll want to do this yourself, but we need to find out if miss Heartfilia is, in fact, pregnant or not. We will give you one month to find out and for your sake, you better hope it comes back negative. We are also scheduling you for an STD test free of charge, just in case. But, Eraserhead we are highly advising you not to continue seeing this woman. She was from the number one guild in Fiore and even has connections with the princess as well as the council. It would not be completely unreasonable to think that she could be using you for information or trying to get pregnant to lure you in somehow. We can’t prevent anyone from coming or leaving from here to Ishgar, it would only cause more conflict but for your safety and ours, we hope that you’ll do the right thing. You’re now free to leave.”

Aizawa stood up mulling over her words as he turned to leave but stopped himself, addressing the president once more. 

“I’ll think about it. But can you do me a favor? Stop sending over your carrier pigeon to my house, all these feathers are getting annoying to clean up.”

With that Aizawa finally turned to leave, calmly walking out the door and going back to the lobby to ask the receptionist about his appointment. He groaned in annoyance as he was told it would be today and he only had an hour and a half to get there. The annoyed scowl didn’t leave his face as he drove to the appointment, sat in the waiting room, got his blood drawn, and drove back home. He was told to go ahead and take the rest of the day off by the doctor, which on any other day he would have been grateful for but today he was annoyed that he wouldn’t have anything to keep his mind off of what had just occurred. While it wasn’t the usual time he would get home, it was still dark out by the time he returned to his apartment.

Stripping himself of his hero attire, he sat on the couch and ran his fingers through his tangled hair. He was getting tired of everyone warning him about how dangerous Lucy probably was, but the more he thought about it the more convincing it was starting to sound. He was surprised when he was told about her connections with the princess, Lucy only telling him that they’d conversed briefly during the eclipse gate situation and the thank you party afterward, but it didn’t sound like they were particularly close. Then there was the baby situation, Lucy hadn’t said anything about wanting kids or really what any of her plans for the future even were, which wasn’t surprising given the situation. But was she purposefully trying to get pregnant? She hadn’t objected to buying the morning after pill and he even watched her take it that day, but their last time together, they were in such a rush to get out the door he didn’t think she even had time to take it. He sighed in frustration, fishing his phone out of his pocket before finding her contact again. He stared at the two icons next to her phone number, resting his chin on his palm as he debated how he should proceed. Should he just call her and get right to the point? Or would it be better to make it less personal by texting? Either way, he didn’t think that this was going to sound very good. Four days without calling or texting and the first time he does it’s to ask if she’s pregnant or not. He turned off his phone running through a list of excuses in his head for why he hadn’t tried to contact her that didn’t make him sound like complete trash. But the more he thought about how he would probably have to lie only intensified the gnawing feeling in the back of his head. The feeling that was telling him that she could be just as much of a liar, it would be easy for her to just say she wasn’t pregnant, and he would have no way of knowing if she was telling the truth or not. His stomach twisted as he thought of all the horrible things that could happen to his child if she gave birth to one. There was always the possibility of it not even making it, but there was also the chance of it living which scared him to his core at the thought of them being taken away to be experimented on by a cruel doctor who only saw them as a test subject. There was no way Lucy would ever do something like that. Right? Who was he to even say what she was even truly like? Did he even know her or was it all a lie?

His brow furrowed as a feeling of rage rose within him. At the thought that this was all just a lie to get ahead in this senseless rivalry and that they would stoop so low as to play with someone’s emotions and risk the life of a child just because they could. Picking up his phone again, Shouta quickly found Lucy’s contact, his finger hovering over the call button as he took a deep breath, ready to find out the truth, no matter how upsetting it was going to be.

_*RING RING RING* ___

__Aizawa startled slightly as his phone began vibrating in his hand, the screen changing to show the name of the person that had been taking up 99% of his thoughts that day. Taking a moment to calm himself, Aizawa pressed the answer button slowly lifting the phone to his ear before answering._ _

__“Hello?"_ _

__“SHOU-KUN!”_ _

__Aizawa took his phone away from his ear as the familiar voice of his girlfriend nearly deafened him and had him wondering if, he had somehow mixed up her number with Hizashi’s. Turning down the call volume, he hesitantly pressed the phone back to his ear, listening as a series of clangs and shuffling around could be heard along with muffled laughter._ _

__“Lucy? Is everything alright?”_ _

__“Shou-Kun! Why didn’t you call me!?”_ _

__“I- “_ _

__“I was really, really sad when you didn’t even kiss me before I left. I thought you said you weren’t gonna be weird anymore Shou-Kun!”_ _

__Aizawa blinked in confusion as Lucy’s teary voice came through the phone, her words noticeably more slurred and it didn’t take a genius to figure out that she was drunk._ _

__“Lucy. Have you been drinking?”_ _

__“*giggles* Yep! You’re so smart Shou-Kun! I’m really happy that you’re my boyfriend!”  
Aizawa felt as his rage subsided, and he couldn’t help but want to laugh at the thought that the drunken ramblings of someone could bring him comfort. But if what Lucy had said was true maybe he had nothing to worry about, but it was better safe than sorry._ _

__“Lucy, there’s something that I have to ask you.”_ _

__“Shou-Kun!”_ _

__“What is it?”_ _

__“Cana wanted me to tell you something.”_ _

__“Who?”_ _

__“She said to tell you that I wanted to break up.”_ _

__Now he was really confused. Who was Cana? And why did she want them to break up? He figured that these were questions better asked later, if ever._ _

__“Do you… want to break up?”_ _

__“You wanna break up with me Shou!?”_ _

__“No. I’m asking if _you _want to break up.”___ _

____“No, I never ever wanna breakup, that would make me really sad cause I really like you Shouta!”_ _ _ _

____“Then we won’t break up.”_ _ _ _

____“Yay! I’m still Shouta’s girlfriend!”_ _ _ _

____For a moment Shouta listened as Lucy laughed but frowned as that laughter turned to crying and he wondered if this phone call could get any more confusing._ _ _ _

____“What’s wrong now?”_ _ _ _

____“I just realized that you’re not here so I can’t kiss you or hug you and it’s really sad.”_ _ _ _

____Aizawa rubbed his temple as her crying continued, he knew that he wasn’t going to get a straight answer out of her, at least not right now and he hated wasting time on things that weren’t going to get him anywhere. He needed to put a stop to this right now._ _ _ _

____“Lucy, I think it’s time for you to get some rest.”_ _ _ _

____“But I don’t wan-”_ _ _ _

____“Listen to me kitten!”_ _ _ _

____Aizawa didn’t like raising his voice, but he knew that sometimes it couldn’t be helped. And sometimes that thing was having to discipline his drunk bratty kitten into bed before she did something regrettable and wake up with a hangover. Or worse. She could drunkenly stumble out during a rainy night and almost die of hypothermia, only this time she didn’t have a worried significant other close by to come and find her._ _ _ _

____“...ok.”_ _ _ _

____“Are you home kitten?”_ _ _ _

____“Yes, daddy.”_ _ _ _

____“Good. First, I want you to go and find yourself some aspirin and drink plenty of water to go along with it. Can you do that for me kitten?”_ _ _ _

____“I’ll try daddy.”_ _ _ _

____Aizawa listened as she stumbled her way through her apartment, flinching as he heard her bump into what he assumed where several different pieces of furniture, until he heard what he could guess was a cupboard followed by several gulping noises and finally the sound of a glass falling._ _ _ _

____“Is everything okay?”_ _ _ _

____“It’s okay it didn’t break.”_ _ _ _

____Aizawa sweatdropped at her cheery voice as she said that, just hoping that she wouldn’t destroy her whole apartment before she got to bed._ _ _ _

____“Okay, now I want you to go and change into your comfiest clothing, brush your teeth, get under your covers and take a nice long rest. And in the morning, I want you to take the day off to rest and drink plenty of water.”_ _ _ _

____“Will you wait while I do that? I want to hear your voice before I go to bed daddy.”_ _ _ _

____“Of course, kitten, daddy will wait right here while you do that.”_ _ _ _

____Lucy let out a sound of approval followed by silence as she went to get ready for bed, leaving Aizawa with a moment of peace to finally think. Surely if she were pregnant she wouldn’t be drinking, at least not if she knew she was pregnant, or trying to get pregnant. It would be foolish of her to drink if that were the case unless mages had somehow invented alcohol safe for expecting mothers, which he highly doubted. Plus, it seemed that someone she knew was trying to get her to stop seeing him, which didn’t make sense if she was trying to use him for information. Everything that he had just spent the day being led to believe were facts were currently being unraveled because of one drunk woman’s ramblings. Only annoying him further for the wasted time he’d spent being interviewed by small-minded individuals who couldn’t think for themselves._ _ _ _

____Finally, the familiar sound of shuffling could be heard again followed by a contented sigh, and Lucy greeting him with a yawn._ _ _ _

____“Are you in bed now kitten?”_ _ _ _

____“Yes, Shou.”_ _ _ _

____“Good. Now just close your eyes and slip away into a beautiful dream. We can talk more tomorrow.”_ _ _ _

____“You promise?”_ _ _ _

____“Yeah, I promise.”_ _ _ _

____“Okay. I love you Shouta.”_ _ _ _

____Aizawa felt his breath hitch and his mind go blank. His grip on his phone tightening as he tried to process what she said. She had said it so casually like it was a normal everyday thing that she didn’t have to think twice about. Like breathing or blinking._ _ _ _

____“Lucy. Are you pregnant?”_ _ _ _

____“I don’t want kids right now Shou-Kun. But a family with Shouta sounds really nice…”_ _ _ _

____The only thing that followed was her steady breathing as she succumbed to sleep, leaving Aizawa to listen to her soft breathing before finally hanging up. Mindlessly, he stood up and made his way to his bedroom, throwing himself onto his bed and burying his face in his pillow. The weight of the day didn’t seem important anymore, not when his body suddenly felt so light._ _ _ _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone! thanks again for reading and for the support that you've been giving to this story since the beginning. Let me know what you think of the chapter/story, I'm always happy to reply to comments. Until next time.:)


	15. Hangover's and Serious Talks

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lucy wishes she hadn't drank so much especially when she has to have long talks with the most important people in her life right now.

The coolness of the wood brought little, but still welcome relief to Lucy as she rested her head on her kitchen table. If it weren’t for the vague memories from last night, she would have been convinced she’d just gotten done running a marathon in the desert. The morning greeting her with a dry mouth, pounding head and aching feet solidifying how pitiful she felt. She knew that there was no way that she’d be able to make it to work that day, even if she knew how needed she was and how much she didn’t want to let Jason and the others down, she doubted she’d make it out the door without puking what little she had in her stomach. Plus, something in the back of her mind was telling her that she needed to stay home, for what she couldn’t quite put her finger on.  


Forcing herself to move, Lucy wobbled back to her room and flopped onto her bed groaning as her headache persisted. Luckily, her communication lacrima was on her nightstand so she wouldn’t have to move any more than necessary. Ringing up Jason, Lucy felt pitiful as she explained to him how she was too hungover to make it into work that day, her mood worsening with each word that came out of her mouth. She was sure that she deserved to be fired for this, but deep down she hoped that she wouldn’t despite how lousy her excuses were sounding. Much to her surprise Jason only sounded concerned for her and asked if she was doing alright. Adding to her confusion when he asked if she had been drinking more, recently. After a series of prying questions, which left her wondering why Jason was so concerned about her health suddenly, he finally hung up wishing her the best and hoping she’d be able to come in tomorrow. Lucy thanked him and apologized again, hanging up and relaxing back into bed. Pulling the covers over her head, she was startled by the sound of something hitting the floor. Uncovering herself, she looked over the edge of the bed only to see something small and rectangular against the wooden floorboards.

Lucy stared at the object for a moment, her brain too hungover to properly process what she was looking at. Then all at once, her face paled as she almost fell out of bed, quickly picking up the object and unlocking it, quickly looking at her messages as a mix of fear and embarrassment rushed through her. She let out a breath of relief, not finding any embarrassing messages sent to anyone from last night or early that morning. But any relief she had vanished as she checked her recent phone calls, finding that not only had she called Shouta but that they’d talked for quite a while. 

Lucy’s head filled with thousands of questions as she stared at the floor, stressfully running her fingers through her tangled hair. _‘Oh Mavis, what have I done? What did I say!? What did **he** say!? What if I said something super embarrassing and now he wants to break up!? What if we already did break up!? Oh Mavis, what do I do!?’_

Lucy racked her head as she tried to remember something, anything about their conversation last night, but no matter how hard she searched her brain she couldn’t remember anything. Slumping over in defeat, she figured that there was nothing she could do about it now and that she’d just have to wait until she talked with Shouta again to find out what happened. A cold sweat broke out at the thought of their next conversation. She hated herself for being so dumb as to call him while drunk, taking away the excitement that she should have felt at the possibility of Shouta calling her and replacing it with fear. Standing up, she quickly gathered some clothes and started running herself a bath. She just needed to calm herself down was all, calm down and gather up her courage to face this like an adult.  


Filling the tub with bath salts, she happily sunk into the hot water as the calming smell of roses and cherry blossoms filled her senses. 

Blowing out, Lucy watched the small group of bubbles that popped on the surface of the water, her mind still trying to remember what happened the night before. The only thing coming to mind being the horrible feeling of puking her guts out and then nothing. It made her wonder why Cana ever enjoyed drinking so much, despite the woman’s iron liver she knew that not even she was immune to the horrible effects of a hangover. But, who knows, maybe she had just gotten used to the feeling by now and could simply walk it off as if it were nothing. Something about that pained Lucy the more she thought about it, ever since she’d joined Fairy Tail, it seemed to just be known and accepted by everyone that Cana was a drinker and a frequent one at that. Someone that couldn’t be beaten in a drinking contest no matter how old or experienced they were, with the exception of Bacchus. No one ever bothered to question it and Cana never seemed to slow down either, drinking no matter the time or occasion. It worried her and she hoped that Cana would be alright, now that no one seemed to be around to supervise her and make sure she was getting home safe at the end of the night. Which made her wonder, what happened to Cana last night?

“I hope she got home alright.”

“Hope who got home alright?”

Lucy screamed, jolting back and instinctively covering herself with her arms as she turned her head to see the familiar form of Cana standing in the doorway to her bathroom. She looked disheveled, her coat missing, leaving her in her bikini top and pants, her shoes nowhere to be found. Despite her messy appearance, the older woman didn’t seem to be doing as bad as Lucy had when she woke up, at least not from what she could tell. 

“When did you get here!?”

“Can you keep it down? I never left after we came here from the bar last night, not that I expect you to remember.”

“How come you didn’t say anything sooner?”

“I was asleep until just a moment ago. Guess I passed out behind your couch so I don’t expect you to have seen me.”

Cana rubbed the sleep out of her eyes, walking into the bathroom, sitting on the floor, and leaning her back against the tub. Lucy watched and sweatdropped as the card mage pulled yet another bottle of alcohol out of her bag, throwing back the drink as if it didn’t contain any alcohol at all. Lucy rested her head on her arms against the edge of the tub humming in acknowledgment as she tried to go back to relaxing despite her unexpected visitor. An idea came to mind as Lucy opened her eyes, looking over at the half-asleep card mage. This was the perfect opportunity to ask her what happened last night and finally get some answers about what her conversation with Shouta was like, assuming she was there to hear it, which both excited and embarrassed her at the thought.

“Ne, Cana.”

“Hm?”  


“What happened last night? I mean, after we left the bar, what ended up happening?”

Lucy didn’t miss the slight change in the older woman’s demeanor, her body going stiff and her drinking pausing for a brief moment. Cana looked up in thought and didn’t say anything for a moment, which was starting to worry her until finally, Cana gave her a carefree smile and winked at her.

“We had the best night ever, that’s what happened. I need to get you drunk more often, you should have told me how much more fun you are with a little alcohol in you.”

Lucy blushed, submerging herself further into the water as horrific memories from previous times she’d drank came to mind. Or more specifically, the horror stories she’d heard from her teammates about what she was like when she was drunk. It took her a long time before she was able to even look Natsu in the eyes after that and even longer before she went anywhere near alcohol. 

“No, I mean, what did I do last night? Did you see me...make any phone calls by chance?”

Cana paused looking down at the bottle of alcohol in her hand and furrowed her brow. She seemed bothered by something. By what specifically, Lucy didn’t know. 

“I'm not gonna lie Lucy, you told me a lot more about that boyfriend of yours. Like, you literally wouldn't shut up about him the whole night.”

“Eh!?” Lucy's whole face felt hot, and it wasn't because of the bath. Part of her was expecting to have talked about him somewhat when she was drunk. But the _whole night?_ How was she ever going to live this down? 

“So, you know about…?”

“Him being a quirk user? Yeah, I swear you’ve changed more than anyone else I’ve met up with from the guild. I haven't seen you for one month and you’ve already got yourself in a Romeo and Juliet level love story. I gotta say I’m a bit disappointed in you Lucy.”

Lucy looked down sadly, like a child being scolded by an older sibling. She didn’t know why, but she didn’t like hearing that. didn’t like hearing that she was the one who’d changed, because she hadn’t. Just because she’d entered a relationship that was a little unconventional didn’t mean she was suddenly a completely different person right?

“Now Lucy, I’m not going to come in here and tell you how I think things should be. But, don’t you think this is a bit much?”

“What are you talking about?”

“I mean, don’t you think that you’re going a bit too far for some companionship?”

“Huh?”

“Listen, I heard about how you’ve been behaving recently from the guy at Sorcerer Weekly. It’s clear that you’re going through… things. The disbandment was hard on all of us but we all learned that we had to move on in our own way. But this, this isn’t moving on. Getting involved with someone like that is only going to get you hurt in the end. I get that some of us handle being left alone better than others and some of us can’t be without companionship at all. But if you were so desperate to be with someone else why didn’t you just turn to one of the ally guilds? You know that any of them would’ve bent over backward to get you whatever help you needed. And if it was romance you were looking for, you could have also gone to any of the guilds. I’m sure there’s plenty of guys who wouldn’t mind taking you out if you just asked. Dating someone like that is only going to get you hurt in the end. I hope you know that I’m saying this in your best interest.”  


Lucy didn’t say anything, processing everything that the card mage had just said. Gripping the edge of the tub in frustration but gently letting go after a moment. Calmly standing up, Lucy exited the bathtub and wrapped a towel around herself, not saying anything as she left to get dressed. Leaving Cana confused as she just stared at the celestial mage’s back as she walked away. She sighed sadly as she rested her head on her knees. She knew that her friend didn’t want to hear this, it was made clear from last night that this guy meant something to her but that just gave her more reason to want to get her out of this relationship before it was too late. Closing her eyes, the events from last night replayed in her mind.

* * *

Cana laughed as she helped to carry the very intoxicated celestial mage back to her apartment. She’d never tell her but Cana had taken the liberty of finding out where Lucy lived just in case she ever needed a place to spend the night on one of her binge drinking episodes, which were happening a lot more often. 

Lucy giggled next to her as she wrapped her arms around the taller woman’s neck as best she could while still trying to walk. Affectionately rubbing her cheek against the older woman’s face as she muttered gibberish about how they should spend more time together. Letting go of her friend, Cana grabbed the keys out of Lucy’s pocket while the blonde wobbled around giggling, on the verge of toppling over. Luckily she was able to get the door opened before Lucy could injure herself by running into a wall or falling face-first onto the ground.

Guiding her drunk friend into her apartment, Cana turned on the light and looked around impressed by the celestial mage’s living arrangements. She couldn’t help but feel a slight sense of envy towards Lucy for somehow always managing to find nice places to live for so cheap. She’d have to come by more often or maybe ask if she could stay with Lucy for a short while, try to figure out some way to stay in such a nice place if even for a little bit. Cana was taken aback slightly as said mage attached herself to the card mage’s side like a koala and almost made her topple over.

“Cana! I’ve missed you soo much! Never leave me again!”

Cana’s eyes grew tender as she looked at her friend, using her free hand to pet the top of the younger girl’s head. Despite how much fun she had been having the past month on her own, she couldn’t deny that there were some nights when she couldn’t help but wish she was with her friends again, drinking and partying and enjoying each other’s company. She usually tended to push those feelings aside though, not wanting to fall into another depressed fit and end up passed out drunk in an alley again. Keeping herself preoccupied with side jobs and drinking either by herself or with friendly strangers she’d meet at the bar.

Walking over to the couch as best she could, Cana somehow managed to slide herself out of her friend’s iron grip and laid Lucy on the couch. Lucy whined, outstretching her hands toward Cana like a child would their mother. Cana just laughed as she took a seat next to her, Lucy laying her head on her lap and making sounds that almost sounded like a cat purring.

“Heh. What are you some kind of cat?”

Lucy went silent for a moment, her purring stopping, and her body going still. Cana looked down in confusion and concern as she called her friend’s name hesitantly. Lucy’s body suddenly began to tremble and for a moment Cana wondered if she had begun to cry, only for the sound of giggling to be heard again and her confusion intensified. Lucy looked up at her, her eyes glassy but happy as she kicked her legs and held a pillow to her chest, her blush intensifying and a dreamy smile refusing to leave her face. 

“What’s gotten into yo-?”

“Shouta thinks I’m a kitten too.”

Shouta? Oh yeah, that’s right. Lucy’s new supposed boyfriend who may or may not just be using her. 

“Shouta’s so nice Cana! He’s so big and strong and his hair’s really nice!”

Cana wanted to roll her eyes, she wanted to be happy for her friend, but her first impression of the man left a less than pleasant taste in her mouth. 

“That’s nice but Lucy you know he might not be all that great-”

“But he is great! He let me stay with him and he saved me from overheating and he’s a hero!”

“Don’t you think you’re exaggerating a bit with that?”

“No, Shou-Kun is a legal hero and he’s got a really cool quirk.”

“Wait, a quirk user!?”

“He’s amazziinngg.”

Cana was about to ask more but the blonde mage’s face suddenly paled, covering her mouth with her hand as she jolted up from the couch. Narrowly avoiding the coffee table, Lucy rushed to the bathroom, and soon after the sounds of heaving could be heard along with other awful sick noises. Cana quickly followed behind her friend who was currently hacking up her stomach into the toilet. Cana gently rubbed at the celestial mage's back, gathering as much of her hair as possible before it could be soaked in the toilet water or puke.

Many questions had run through her head at the time as well as even more concern for her friend’s safety. As soon as Lucy's stomach was finally calmed and she'd regained some of the fluids she'd lost, Cana was quick to try and get more answers out of the inebriated mage. Lucy was currently wobbling in her chair absentmindedly giggling as Cana berated her with as many questions as she could think of to get as much information as she could on her mystery boyfriend. From what he looked like, to how many pets he owned, and his past dating history one after another until Lucy’s eyes were rolling in confusion at trying to answer what she could. Until finally the most important question to Cana was finally asked.

“How old is he Lucy?”

“Uhm, I think he said he was 29?”

“You’re dating someone 10 years older than you?”

“But aren’t I 26? Or...” Lucy looked down and began to count on her fingers only to somehow miscount and start again.

“But everything else about you is 19! How can you sit there and act like all of this is normal!? Where is your brain!?”

“Why are you being so mean to me!?” Lucy covered her face with her hands as she tried to run away from the card mage by going into her room.

Cana sweatdropped as she watched her friend run away like a scared child into her room leaving her sitting at the kitchen table by herself. She bit her thumbnail as she processed all the information Lucy had given her. Of course, she wasn’t oblivious to the social tensions between mages and quirk users even if the topic had died down over the years and it seemed like people had mostly forgotten about them. But that wasn’t what was bugging her. No. There was no way that she could just sit idly by as her friend was preyed upon by this obvious predator. She needed to get Lucy away from this man one way or another. It was clear that Lucy wasn’t about to give him up anytime soon with how enraptured she was with him. She’d have to take matters into her own hands whether Lucy liked it or not, she was doing this for her own good. She just hoped that Lucy would find it in her heart to forgive her after this. But first, she needed a plan to break them up.

It didn’t take long to come up with something in her mind. Pulling out her card deck she shifted through it until she found the cards she was looking for. It was clear that even in her inebriated state Lucy probably wasn’t going to comply with her if she blatantly demanded that she break up with her boyfriend. But she supposed that’s where the beauty of magic came into help. The first card was a simple hypnotism card, and the second was a reverse emotions card. It was a simple plan really, the reverse emotions card would make anyone’s emotions change from what it was currently to the opposite of it. All she had to do was change Lucy’s emotions towards her boyfriend from love to hate and make her call him to break up. It was foolproof. 

Walking over towards Lucy’s bedroom, she gently knocked on the wooden door not receiving an answer. Turning the knob, she found that it was unlocked and quietly entered the room finding the celestial mage on her bed with the covers over her head. Sighing, she walked over until she was next to the bed and quietly activated one of the cards. Once she was sure that the spell was in effect she demanded that Lucy remove the covers from herself and sit up. On cue, Lucy all but threw the covers off of herself and sat up to look at the card mage with a blank look on her face. It was time to fully put her plan into action.

“Alright, Lucy I want you to think about your relationship with your boyfriend and how it makes you feel.”

Lucy continued to look at her with a blank expression, so Cana could only hope that Lucy was doing what she was told. Pulling out the second card and quickly activating it. Lucy blinked, but her face remained unreadable. 

“Okay, now I want you to call your boyfriend and tell him how you feel and that you want to break up.”

Lucy abruptly stood up and made her way towards her desk, pulling out a strange rectangular object from one of the drawers. She didn’t say anything as she watched Lucy fiddle with the object before holding it up to her ear and sitting back down on her bed. It was so quiet in the room that the card mage could hear faint noises coming from the object before a voice could be heard, almost inaudible because of how deep it was. Cana expected a strong reaction from Lucy, but what she witnessed had left her speechless beyond belief as instead of the angered emotions she wanted were instead replaced with unfiltered remarks that she wasn’t sure what to make of. Face palming at Lucy’s miserable and far too literal interpretation of “tell him you want to break up.”

Retreating into the bathroom, Cana didn’t want to listen to the cringe-worthy interaction between the two that she had inadvertently been the cause of. Something had gone wrong somewhere. Maybe it was because she was drunk that this didn’t turn out well? Looking down at her cards she looked down at the emotions card again and wanted to throw the card out the window when she saw what was on it. Instead of the straightforward love to hate that she had been hoping for, it instead showed that the emotion that had been changed was instead doubt to confidence. But why? 

Cana sighed in exasperation as she slid down the bathroom door to sit on the floor. She ran her fingers through her hair in annoyance trying to come up with another plan when a clanging sound caught her by surprise. Coming out of the bathroom she was caught off guard by the sight of her friend crouched on the floor next to the table, phone in hand still talking but she wasn’t able to make out what she was saying. A tipped over bottle of aspirin next to the pitcher of water. She watched as Lucy walked back to her room but she couldn’t help but notice the slight skip in her step as she moved or the gentle smile that almost made her think that she was sober again. 

Cana took a moment to clean up after Lucy’s mess, putting up the aspirin and adjusting the furniture back to normal. When she was done she decided to check up on her friend who had gone suspiciously quiet after she returned to her room. Had she gone to sleep? She gently knocked on the door but received no answer. Putting her ear against the door, she heard the very faint voice of Lucy. Quietly opening the door just a crack she saw as Lucy adjusted herself into bed, the phone next to her, and a happy look on her face. Listening in as close as she could she managed to pick up on some of the things Lucy was saying.

“Okay. I love you Shouta.”

Cana felt her stomach churn as a wave of nausea passed through her body, quietly closing the door and going back to the living room to sit on the couch. She pulled out an alcohol bottle from her bag and began downing it in frustration. Things weren’t going the way she wanted and at this rate, Lucy was never going to get away from that guy. Cana didn’t know how much time passed after that, she could only remember pacing back and forth throughout the apartment in frustration trying to come up with a new plan. But soon enough all the alcohol she’d consumed that night kicked in and she’d woken up the next morning laying behind the couch, her neck cramped and her back feeling stiff.

* * *

So it wasn’t a complete lie when she’d told the celestial mage that she’d talked about Shouta the whole night, because in a way she had. It just so happens that the reason why she was talking about him so much was that ironically enough it had been Cana herself asking about him. For information purposes only of course.  
Getting up off the floor, the card mage walked back into Lucy’s room finding the mage sitting on her bed, an almost sad look on her face as she looked down at her hands which were resting in her lap. She didn’t look at the card mage as she motioned for her to take a seat in the chair from her writing desk. Sitting down, Lucy cleared her throat, still not looking at her friend and focusing on keeping her voice steady. 

“I get where you’re coming from in all of this and I appreciate you looking out for me but I would really appreciate it if you kept your thoughts to yourself for now.”

Cana was stunned and was about to say something only to be silenced by Lucy raising a finger at her.

“It’s true that I haven’t exactly been... handling the disbandment as well as I would have liked, but that has nothing to do with Shouta. I didn’t go out to Musutafu looking for some kind of unhealthy coping mechanism, I was just trying to complete a mission and things just kind of… turned out this way. But Shouta isn’t the type of guy you think he is! Even though we haven’t known each other for very long I’ve already seen more of him then I have people I’ve known for years and I can’t deny the way he makes me feel. Ever since the guild split up I feel like I’ve been wandering around with this hole in my heart and passing every day like an empty shell. But during those days that I spent with Shouta, I felt whole again and he made me forget how lonely I was. It’s true that I don’t have any experience when it comes to relationships like you do, but what I feel when I’m with him… I think it’s the closest I’m going to get to love, the kind of love that you can only get when you share your heart with someone. I don’t expect you to understand and I know you’ll probably just call me stupid for getting so hung up on a guy I haven’t known for very long but I wasn’t lying when I said it’s different with him. I can’t speak for him and for all I know your assumptions could be correct, but right now at this moment, I don’t think I could ever see him as thinking of me or anyone like that. So please, I’m asking you not to talk about Shouta like that anymore because I won’t allow anyone to talk badly about the people I love even if it’s an ally. ”

Cana couldn’t find the words to say, her mind too stunned to think of anything to counter what she’d just been told. She knew that Lucy was someone who’d fight for her friends and those she loved no matter who the enemy was whether it was a dark guild or her own father. She’d fight tooth and nail if it meant protecting those she held dear and in all honesty, she didn’t want to be on the receiving end of Lucy’s wrath, in her opinion, it was on equal par with Erza or Mira’s. She felt guilt well up in her gut as thick and painfully slow as molasses. Making her regret her actions toward her friend and almost convincing her that maybe it would be better to just let her friend continue on with her relationship no matter how wrong she thought it was. And yet the strong feeling of defiance was still embedded into her, shouting at her through her shame that her friend didn’t realize what was going on. Eventually, the rose-colored glasses of the honeymoon phase would have to wear off, and when they did she’d be left heartbroken and disappointed, leaving her at a crossroad of either continuing on with the relationship or to end it then and there. Assuming that is if he even still wanted her at that point.  


Biting her lip, Cana let out a sigh of defeat and agreed with her friend. For now, she’d keep her mouth shut about this guy. But her cards had already told her something, they’d be meeting at some point. When that some point was going to be, she didn’t know but what she did know was that when it did happen she’d have to have a few words with him. While she could promise herself she wouldn’t get physically violent with him, she couldn’t exactly promise that somebody wouldn’t get hurt. If this guy turned out to be as much of a creep as she thought he was, she guaranteed that she’d make him pay for going anywhere near her friend. 

Lucy’s gaze softened at Cana, straightening her posture, and happily suggesting that she prepare breakfast for the two of them. While she felt happy knowing that Cana at least respected her wishes to no longer speak about her boyfriend in such a manner, part of her felt as if something still wasn’t quite right. She wanted to say something about it but she couldn’t quite form the words to describe what she was feeling or what it was she even wanted to ask. Plus, she wanted to get out of this tense environment as quickly as possible if she could help it. She hated arguing with her friend and the last thing she wanted was for Cana to leave after just being reunited. It hurt her heart to think that they’d have to leave on a bad note and she’d be left to suffer alone like she had been for so long now. Biting her tongue, she quickly left to start on breakfast, trying her best to ignore the slight pain her head was still giving her among the rest of the emotional and physical pain that ran throughout her body.  


Luckily it seemed that any tension from their conversation evaporated once they started eating and the subject changed to more fun stories about how they’d each been doing in the past month. Lucy listened intently as Cana described her encounters with the other guildmates she’d met on her journey. Making mental notes about each of their locations and what they were doing currently to add to her wall for later. She didn’t know for how long they’d been talking when suddenly she heard a familiar noise coming from her room. Excusing herself, her stomach flipped as she saw that her phone was ringing, not only that but it was, of course, Shouta that was calling. Lucy looked back at her doorway in hesitation, Cana was waiting for her to return but this would be her first phone call with Shouta since she’d left, at least, while she was sober. Looking between the two again, she cursed under her breath as she quickly reached for her phone before it stopped ringing. 

“Hello?”

For a moment there was no answer and she feared that maybe she hadn’t gotten to the phone in time before a gruff voice finally answered back.

“Hey. How’s my kitten doing?” 

Lucy blushed as her stomach felt as if it’d morphed into thousands of butterflies all fluttering around inside her. Her mood brightened when she realized that he didn’t sound upset at her, which hopefully meant they hadn’t broken up. 

“I-I’m good. I just… um… How are you?”

Oh, Mavis. What the heck was wrong with her? Was talking over the phone always this awkward? Despite her overwhelming amount of happiness, she found that she had absolutely no idea what to say to him. This was different from any time she’d talked with her friends via communication lacrima because he wasn’t any of her friends, he was Shouta. A man that could make her forget how to speak with just one sentence. 

“Aw. What’s the matter kitten? Cat got your tongue? You were awfully eager to speak to me last night though. Although, something tells me you aren’t going to remember that.”

Lucy wanted to throw her phone across the room and sink into the floor as her face began to steam with embarrassment. Of course, he was going to bring up last night right off the bat and waste no time in teasing her relentlessly for it. 

“N-no actually. I was just about to ask you about what happened last night when I called you if you don’t mind.”

Aizawa chuckled at her shy tone of voice on the other side of the phone. He could already picture her face blushed as she spoke, hoping that she hadn’t said anything embarrassing in her drunken state. 

“Oh don’t worry too much kitten. You didn’t say anything you wouldn’t have said while sober.”

“Now I know you’re lying!”

“Oh, but it’s the truth actually.”

Lucy puffed her cheeks in frustration, now there was no doubt she said something embarrassing last night. The sound of the front door closing momentarily startling her. Standing up, Lucy walked back to her kitchen but sure enough, there was no sign of the card mage. A sad feeling lumping in her throat and choking her up. Cana had most definitely heard them, but she hadn’t even given her the chance to ask her to wait a moment while she took his call. 

“Hey. Are you okay?”

“Oh, yeah, sorry. I just had a bit of an argument with a friend of mine that I met up with yesterday.”

“Oh, the one from last night?”

“Huh, did I mention her last night?”

“You mentioned someone last night when you called me. You said that they had asked you to break up with me.”

For a moment Aizawa only heard silence on the other end of the phone. He guessed that she likely wasn’t aware of her friend’s failed attempt at getting them to separate, which he supposed, wasn’t surprising. 

“You still there?”

“Yeah, I just- I’m having a hard time processing all of this.”

He didn’t miss the slight crack in her voice towards the end of her sentence. He sighed. He hated seeing or hearing her so down, but there wasn’t much that he felt he could do. After all, he didn’t know anything about this friend of hers or what her intentions were. All he could do was give her the facts and hope that nothing bad happened to her. That being said, he wasn’t about to just leave his girlfriend suffering and confused.

“Hey now, don’t go wasting your tears on someone that doesn’t deserve it. She probably had a reason for wanting us to go our separate ways.”

“That’s just the thing actually. I know why she wants us to, I just didn’t think she’d go so far as to do something like that.”

“Is it because of my status?”

“It isn’t purely because of your status. She thinks that I’m using you as a coping mechanism, and that this whole relationship could get me hurt.” 

“She wouldn’t be entirely wrong.”

“Hey, I’m sure it won’t be won’t be that bad.”

“That’s just it. You don’t know, but things haven’t exactly gone the best for me since you left.”

“Oh my god, did something happen!? Are you okay?”

“Don’t worry, it’s not like they tortured me or anything, it was just an annoying interrogation. But what I am saying is that we’re now running on a thin line here. The HPSC suspects that your some type of criminal out to steal information.”

“What!? There’s no way that I would do something like that! You believe me don’t you?”

“Of course I do. I’m trying to tell you to be careful though. I think it would be in your best interest to keep our relationship a secret from as many people as possible if you don’t want to end up getting interrogated or worse.”

“I understand. I’m just really sorry that you had to go through that all because of me.”

“Don’t go throwing yourself a pity party now. We both should’ve known what we were getting ourselves into when we started this relationship. It’s only going to get more complicated from here. You realize that don’t you?”

Lucy looked down sadly, clutching her phone tightly in her hand. Part of her was telling her to back out now while she still could. But she had gotten this far already and she didn’t think he could handle letting him go, not anytime soon if ever. 

“Yeah, but I’m willing to go through it, for you.”

A smile tugged at the corners of Aizawa’s mouth, his tone of voice becoming softer subconsciously. 

“Don’t forget that you should be doing this for yourself too, kitten.”

“For us.”

“From now, until forever.”

Lucy found that the butterflies had suddenly returned to her stomach, fluttering about so rampantly she thought she might end up flying away herself. 

“Shouta. I really miss you.”

“I miss you too, more than I can say.”

“Do you think we’ll ever see each other again?”

“Unfortunately, I doubt it’ll be anytime soon. I forgot to mention, but I’ll be taking up a job as a teacher soon.”

Lucy blinked. Once. Twice. But no matter how much she blinked, the answer wasn’t anywhere behind her eyelids, or anywhere for that matter.

“You really need to stop just randomly going into silence, it’s really awkward for me you know.”

“Oh sorry, I just never really took you for the teaching type.”

“I’m not, a friend of mine basically forced me into this position. I doubt I’ll be doing it for very long. As soon as I get the chance I’m quitting, my schedule is busy enough as it is without having to deal with a bunch of hyperactive children shouting about wanting to be heroes, not realizing the sacrifices and risks that come with truly being a hero.”

Lucy couldn’t help but giggle at his pessimism. She actually quite liked children and she was curious to see how this would play out.

“Aw, come on now Shou, don’t be such a downer. Give it at least a year before you decide to go back to your old routine. Who knows, you might end up liking it.”

Aizawa let out a snort. “I doubt it. But fine, one year and that’s it.”

“At least you’ll be expanding your horizons.”

“I think you’re all the horizons I can handle right now. That being said, I have to go now my lunch break is almost over.”

“But it feels like we’ve barely started talking. Ah well, I need to go talk to Cana. Even if she might not see things the way I do, she’s still my friend and I know she means well.”

“If that’s how you want to continue then I can’t stop you. I’ll talk to you tomorrow then.”

“Can’t we talk when you get home?”

“It’s illogical for you to lose sleep just because you want to stay up and chat more. We both need our sleep if we’re planning to survive this relationship.”

“Don’t make it sound so brutish. Besides, you haven’t even told me what all I said to you last night.”

Aizawa chuckled. “It is quite the story. You were such an obedient kitten for me you know? But I think I’ll wait to tell you until tomorrow.”

“Wait, you can’t just leave me on that note! What did I do!?”

“I have to go now. Until next time kitten.”

“Wai-”

But all that followed was silence as the call ended and Lucy was left lying in bed red-faced and annoyed at her boyfriend’s antics. But her plans for payback would have to wait until later. For now, she had a friend to find and another serious conversation to have.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh geez. I didn't mean for this chapter to take a whole month to post but halfway through writing this I experienced major writers block and didn't know where I was taking it leading to me writing and rewriting a lot of it. It also ended differently then what I originally had planned. Thank you for waiting patiently while I got this chapter out, I want to get to the good stuff as much as the next person but I have to get through other things in the story first. Until next chapter which hopefully won't take another month for me to write! Comments and kudos are much appreciated!


	16. Declaration

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lucy and Cana finally clear things up and Aizawa gets more reasons to kill Hawks

Lucy hung up the phone, pouting. Despite what Shouta had said about not calling him tonight she knew she’d likely still try even if he protested it. If it meant that she’d get to hear his voice again she’d gladly do it, even if it was just him scolding her for not doing what she was told. Plus it’d be fun to see what his reaction to things was for once.  


Getting out of bed, an immediate bout of dizziness overwhelmed her for a moment followed by the familiar headache from that morning. Sitting back down, Lucy groaned in discomfort rubbing her temple. She really wanted to go out and find Cana and to talk things out but this hangover wasn’t going to get her anywhere other than the toilet to puke her guts out again. Getting back into bed, Lucy pulled the covers over her head, feeling defeated in knowing there was no way she’d be able to find her friend anytime today. Her eyes felt like they could shut at any moment, far too low energy for any kind of wandering outside her apartment. Shifting onto her side, she thought about Cana and what she’d done. She clearly had some kind of strong reasoning for wanting her and Shouta to not be together. But why? In the past Cana had been supportive of the possibility of her getting a boyfriend, even encouraging her to go out with her on singles night’s to try to find a possible boyfriend. Was his status really that important to her? She didn’t want to believe that anyone from Fairy Tail could be so close-minded. Everyone had always been so welcoming to those who wanted to become allies, even those who they’d perceived as enemies in the past. Whether it was Flare, Minerva, Gajeel, or anyone from Crime Sorcière everyone had eventually come to accept them as allies despite the fact that they’d all caused them great harm in some way. So what made Shouta so unforgivable in her eyes? He hadn’t caused her any harm and he hadn’t threatened her or Fairy Tail as far as she knew.  


Closing her eyes, she tried to go back to sleep for the time being. She’d at least try to call her when she woke up, hoping she wouldn’t be too upset and answer her. Cana warned her that this relationship was going to get her hurt. If what Shouta said was true then she needed to make sure that absolutely nobody else found out about this. Cana would surely keep quiet about this. Right? Even though Lucy wanted to believe that she wouldn’t, she didn’t know what to make of Cana after this.

* * *

So far Aizawa could say that he was actually having a good day for once. His tests had come back negative and so far his patrol had been quiet. It had unsettled him at first, making him anxious about a possible secret attack that could happen at any moment. But by his lunch break, he had decided to just accept it and try to enjoy what small bit of free time he had. And what better way to enjoy his free time then to talk with his kitten? Knowing how hangovers tend to go he was hesitant to call, in case she was either still asleep or awake and suffering the after-effects. Ultimately deciding that it was more logical to call her now than when he got home when there would be a higher chance that she’d really be asleep.  


He didn’t realize how long their call had taken until he had casually taken a look over at the clock and noticed that it was almost the end of his 30-minute lunch break. He hadn’t even gotten to eat anything yet, but he figured he’d just buy himself a protein drink instead and maybe pick up something to eat on his way home. There were a few restaurants that he loyally visited since they tended to be the only ones open that late at night. Maybe not the most balanced of meals but it was better than nothing.  


Walking idly down the street he couldn’t help the smile that crept on his face as he carelessly gazed at the clouds. Lucy would probably be disappointed if she found out how unhealthy his eating habits had been since she left. He could picture her pouting face as she scolded him to take better care of himself. She’d make a good wife or mom. Stopping in his tracks, bystanders were startled when the pro hero suddenly slammed his head into the nearby wall, only to continue on as if nothing happened. 

_‘When the hell did I get so mushy?’_ Aizawa thought to himself, ignoring his now throbbing forehead. 

“Umm, Eraser are you okay?” 

Sighing Aizawa looked over at his friend who had once again appeared out of nowhere, looking at him like he was a mad man. 

“I’m fine.” 

“But you just-”

“I said I’m fine.”

“Alright, alright geez. But Shouta I just wanted to ask you about something. About Lucy-san.”

“I’m not going to talk about it whatever it is,” Aizawa said, already feeling the scowl grow on his face.

“It’s not about that time I visited I swear! Actually, it’s about her guild.”

Now his interest was peaked. Talking about her was one thing, but talking about her guild was something else entirely. If Mic was going to quiz him on things about her guild then he wasn’t going to be able to give him anything, at least nothing that he couldn’t remember Lucy telling him. 

“What about it?”

“Well, I’m guessing that you probably already know about the rumors about her guild and Alvarez. I just wanted to know if there was any truth to them.”

Aizawa paused, a bad feeling growing in his stomach. Truthfully he didn’t know much about the other country that was also home to a large population of mages. From what he knew they’d never had any political problems with them and they’d remained silent for many years. In fact, the whole place was quite a mystery with little being known about its emperor or its people. That being said, there were rumors about a possible attack from them happening. On who, they didn’t know, but as the years passed and their eerie silence persisted it caused quite the panic among some people, with conspiracy theorists being the most persistent. Some considered it mindless accusations with others believing it held water. As for himself, he wasn’t sure what to believe. There wasn’t any evidence to suggest that they’d be under attack from the rival country, no matter how high the tensions between quirk users and mages were. They’d been all but respectful the few times they’d interacted. It just wasn’t rational. 

“What rumors?”

“You don’t know? You see, there’s a rumor going around that Alvarez is planning an attack and that they’ve joined up with Fairy Tail in order to exact revenge on us.”

Aizawa scoffed. “You’ve been listening to one too many conspiracy shows Mic. You shouldn’t let the talk of others with clear biases cloud your judgment.”

“But they might actually be on to something! Listen, there’s been talk that apparently Alvarez has become more active recently. Don’t you think it’s a bit suspicious that Fairy Tail, Fiore’s number one guild happened to disband around the same time?”

“Okay. But what evidence do you have that these two things are even remotely linked together? Lots of things happened around that time, why should this be any more significant than the others?”

“Because! Apparently the relations between Fiore and Alvarez aren’t exactly the best either, and that they see them as just as much of a threat as we do.”

“Doesn’t that just disprove your theory even more?”

“That’s where you’re wrong! You see, the magic council especially seems to be on edge with all of this and that they apparently have been looking into Alvarez for some time now. And you know who the magic council has been at odds with for years now? Fairy Tail! They’ve arrested, attacked, and tried to kill Fairy Tail’s members in the past. Don’t you think that they’d be tired of constantly being on the receiving end of that?”

Aizawa didn’t say anything. He hated to admit it, but his words did sound convincing upon first hearing them. But still, he didn’t want to jump to conclusions after all correlation didn’t equal causation.  
“Again, where’s the proof? You can’t just go around making baseless accusations just because you think that someone feels a certain way. All of this is just speculation and as far as I’m concerned it means nothing to me.”

“Hard-headed, as usual, aren’t you, Eraser? Or could it be that you’re the one that’s showing bias?”

“Just because I have a relationship with Lucy doesn’t mean that I’m showing bias. I’m basing it off of proof and what I know. And what I know is that Fairy Tail hasn’t made any kind of pact with Alvarez as far as I and one of their very own members know.”

“You say that, but do you really think that she’d tell you if this was true?”

“I’m done talking about this.”

“Even though there have been rumors of mages going undercover to get any kind of information on us?”

“I said I’m done!”

The two men looked at each other stunned. Aizawa was never one to raise his voice, preferring instead to intimidate by staying calm no matter what. Even rarer for him to do so towards a close friend, his voice never going above an aggravated tone akin to an angry librarian. But something inside him just snapped. Like all of the aggravation from that week had just bubbled to the surface until it just exploded. 

“Eraser you-”

“I don’t want to hear any more about this. Okay?”

His voice sounded faint, almost forced out. He didn’t like lashing out and yet, he was tired. Mentally, physically, emotionally. He just wanted one day where he didn’t have to be reminded of the tensions between mages and quirk users. But he knew that that might as well be impossible, as long he continued on with the relationship he’d always be reminded of why they couldn’t just be with each other like a normal couple or even a normal long-distance couple. 

“Sorry man, but even you have to acknowledge that it might not be impossible. I just wanted you to be careful.”

Mic placed a hand on his shoulder, a look of sympathy coming from behind his orange-tinted glasses. 

“Yeah, I know. Sometimes I just wish you cared a little less.”

* * *

Lucy groaned as she opened her eyes, a loud banging at the door having awoken her from her sleep. Looking over at the clock on her nightstand she saw that it was now late in the evening and she wondered who could possibly be wanting to visit her at such odd hours. Rubbing her eyes, she slowly made her way to her door the banging not letting up for even a moment.  
Opening the door she was greeted by a very sheepish looking Cana, the smell of alcohol coming off stronger than usual from her and a paper bag held in her hands. The two didn’t say anything for a moment, Lucy unsure as to what she was supposed to do or say at that moment, Cana looked down at her feet, twisting her foot into the ground unable to meet the celestial mage’s gaze. 

“Um, hey. Is it okay if I… come in?”

Lucy didn’t say or do anything and for a moment Cana could feel her stomach drop, worried that her former guildmate was furious at her, not that she could blame her if she was. If she were in her place she’d have a hard time forgiving herself too. But what she wasn’t expecting was for the blonde to envelop her in a tight hug, Cana awkwardly put her arms around the shorter woman, still unable to process what was happening or if it was even real.

“I’m so glad you’re okay! I was really worried when you just disappeared like that. I would’ve looked everywhere for you if I wasn’t so hungover!”

Cana didn’t say anything, only looked down at her guildmate, and tried not to get emotional. She was expecting the blonde to immediately slam the door in her face when she came back. In fact, she debated whether she should even return to the celestial mage’s apartment or just run with her tail between her legs when she caught on that she had left to talk with her boyfriend. Even though there was a possibility that maybe her boyfriend hadn’t even brought up the fact that she’d said Cana was the one to tell her to break up with him, she didn’t want to take the chance and left as quickly as she could. She’d wandered the streets of Crocus mindlessly with her head down as she walked, occasionally taking a swig from her pocket flask as she wondered what she should do now. The answer came easy to her as she walked into the nearest liquor store and tried not to fill her bag with every alcohol they carried. It was when she went up to pay that she noticed the newest issue of Sorcerer Weekly had finally been published and a photo of Lucy was plastered on the front, large yellow letters describing how an exclusive interview plus more photos awaited inside. Grabbing one of them, she paid for everything and went to sit on a nearby bench sipping away at one of the bottles as she flipped through the magazine until she came across the interview. Despite her connections, her friend could only reveal so much about the interview without the possibility of getting fired or worse. So there was a good amount of information that she still didn’t know about. 

Cana normally wasn’t one for reading long paragraphs, and she often found herself unable to actually process what she was reading most of the time when it came to these things. But for once she found her eyes glued to the page, taking in every word the blonde had to say to Jason and she couldn’t help the guilt that washed over her the more she read on and the more Lucy talked about the guild. Despite everyone just suddenly leaving without a word or even trying to contact each other most of the time, Lucy held no remorse towards them and only wished them the best in the new journey. She’d heard about what happened to Lucy on the day of the interview. It was clear that there was something wrong with her friend, something that she didn’t want to admit despite the obvious symptoms. She needed a friend, somebody familiar to help her through the pain but nobody was there to help her. And then he came along and gave her what she wanted, what she needed at the time. He was there and she wasn’t. And now she was trying to get rid of the only one that was finally making her happy. 

Getting up she stuffed the magazine in her bag and made her way to the nearest convenience store. Despite how she prided herself on how much she could drink now and how rare it was for her to get drunk, sometimes hangovers were just inevitable. And they were ten times worse when you never gave yourself a break from drinking. But at least it gave her enough experience to know what some of the best ways to take care of a hangover were. And that was what led her to where she is now, sitting with Lucy on her bed as she handed her the bag, trying to find the right words to say to her friend. 

“I… um. Got you some stuff, to help with the hangover.”

“Thanks, Cana. It really means a lot.”

She watched as Lucy looked through the bag and read the label on the pill bottle, smiling when she pulled out a pint of her favorite ice cream.

“Lucy, I- I’m really sorry.”

“About what?”

Cana felt her mouth go dry. Did he really not tell her?

“About last night. I made you try to break up with your boyfriend using magic.” 

“Wait, what?”

“Last night I used some of my magic to try and convince you to try and break up with him.”

Lucy stared blankly at her friend before she broke out into a smile, and that smile became laughter until she had doubled over onto her bed in laughter. Cana looked at her friend in disbelief, this… wasn’t the response that she was expecting.

“What’s so funny?”

Lucy tried to hold back her laughter. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I just wasn’t expecting that is all. Just… wow, I wasn’t expecting you to go that far. I’m surprised, not gonna lie.”

Cana looked down at her lap, a blush of embarrassment blooming on her face. She had no idea what to feel now, Lucy didn’t seem upset but she didn’t know if it was genuine or if this was all just a front that she was putting on for whatever reason. 

“Still, what I did was out of line and I shouldn’t have done that without you knowing. I thought that I was doing you a favor by getting rid of this guy for you, but… that was just me pushing my own assumptions. I didn’t take how you were feeling into account and that’s not what friends should do. You deserve all the happiness in the world and if this guy is what’s giving you that happiness then you have my support.”

Cana’s eyes opened in surprise when she felt herself get pulled into a hug. She couldn’t see Lucy’s expression from the angle she was at, but her body seemed relaxed and the hand that came up to caress her head was gentle, almost motherly.

“Thank you Cana, it really means a lot. I’m not saying that what you did was right, and I’m not gonna lie I was really hurt when I first found out but I can see where you were coming from. Just please don’t do something like this again, I really don’t wanna have another embarrassing conversation that I won’t remember the next morning. If you can promise me that, then I think I might just be able to forgive you.”

Cana laughed and nodded her head. “I promise not to use my magic on you without permission again.”

“Cross your heart and hope to die?”

Cana sighed, making a cross sign over where her heart was. “Cross my heart and hope to die.”

“Pinky promise?” Lucy said, extending her pinky finger out to her friend.

“Yes, you big baby I promise.” The older woman replied, locking her finger with the excited looking celestial mage’s.

“Hmm. I don’t think I forgive you just yet, it’s gonna take something more.”

“What is it now?”

“Girls movie night!” Lucy raised her arms over her head in excitement. 

Any annoyance Cana had towards the situation evaporated when she saw the innocent excitement that her friend emanated. She found herself smiling along with her, her happiness almost contagious. They went to the kitchen to pick out some snacks, Lucy asking her what movie she wanted to watch from the selection she had. Cana was just getting the popcorn ready when she heard Lucy call her name.

“Hey Cana, I’m going to go check my mailbox real quick. I’ll be right back.”

And with that, the blonde mage quickly slipped on her shoes and left to go to the mailbox. She gave a friendly wave to the other tenants that she passed and that were also at the mailbox. Opening it, she skimmed through the miscellaneous letters from stores or other businesses looking to sell something but was taken aback when at the very bottom of the pile was a pristine white envelope lined with gold sealed with an intricate-looking emerald-colored wax stamp. Opening the letter, she read over the intricately calligraphed writing. 

_Dear Ms. Lucy Heartfilia,  
It is with great honor that we inform you that you have been summoned by Princess Hisui E. Fiore for a meeting two days from now…_

“Eh!?”

* * *

Aizawa felt his eye twitch as he looked down at the younger hero giving him an innocent smile as he hid something behind his back.  
He hadn’t even been home 5 minutes before he heard a knock at the door and this was what greeted him upon opening it. Without saying anything Aizawa immediately slammed the door in the wing hero’s face, turning around to carry on with what was left of his day. 

“Aw, come on Eraserhead-san! You can’t still be mad at me are you!?”

Aizawa didn’t answer, instead going over to the stove and heating up a small pot of water to make himself ramen. He could hear as Hawks began pounding on his door, some of his cries were muffled while the rest were high pitched enough to still be heard by not just him but no doubt his neighbors as well. He just hoped that he wouldn’t be the one to be sent the noise complaints.

“I’m not here on business, I just want to give you something that I think you might like!”

If it was coming from him then there wasn’t anything on this planet that he’d enjoy receiving. He didn’t care if he brought him a million dollars, if it came from his hands it was basically worthless. 

“Don’t you at least want to know what it is!? If you did I think you’d be more upset if I kept these!”

He hated to admit it. But that definitely caught his interest. He began to think of what Hawks could possibly have that he wouldn’t want him having. Other than a pulse. But no matter how hard he thought he couldn’t think of anything at that moment, but considering all that had happened with Hawks he could assume it had something to do with Lucy. 

“Fine! I’ll just leave these here then if you want them. But on the slight chance that you don’t want them, I wouldn’t mind taking them back! Have a nice night Eraser-san!”

After that, there was silence followed by the sound of his wings flapping which soon became fainter until it was silent again. He looked down at the boiling water for a moment, cursing under his breath as he went to go and open the door. There on his doorstep was an unassuming looking cardboard box with a note taped on the top. Picking it up he was caught off guard by how heavy it was, bringing it into his apartment and setting it on the coffee table. Taking a seat on the couch, he stared blankly at the box before removing the note from the top and skimming the message that was written.

_Thought you might like these. I hope this means we can be the best of friends in the future Aizawa-san!_

The message was followed by a small doodle of a chibi Hawks smiling and giving a peace sign. Aizawa quickly crumpled up the note and tossed it behind him without a second thought. Taking the knife out from his utility belt he carefully cut the tape that was holding the box closed. He couldn’t help but subconsciously hold in a breath as he slowly opened it and peeked inside. 

He blinked once.

Twice.

And by the third, he was already planning on what the best ways to make a murder look like an accident were.

What he was greeted with were what had to be hundreds of magazines neatly piled in, each from different publishers and each had a different theme but all of them had something in common. Lucy. The first thing that had greeted him when he opened the box was an image of a very provocative looking Lucy in one of the smallest bikinis he’d ever seen and it left little to the imagination. Taking them each out he confirmed that all of them featured the blonde mage in some way or another whether it was having her on the front page or having her photos featured throughout and sometimes even just interviews of her as a special feature. It was when he pulled out one of the thicker magazines that appeared to be some kind of lingerie catalog that he could feel his blood begin to boil. Something that he immediately took notice of was that each of the magazines was kept in pristine condition. Not a single wrinkle or crease could be seen on each of the thin pages, making them look almost brand new, and yet this one was different. 

One of the pages was dogeared as if he’d bookmarked the page for a reason. Flipping to it, he felt like smashing his fist into the nearest wall. The entire two pages were of one image, a very embarrassed looking Lucy was blushing as she covered her naked breasts, the only article of clothing that she was wearing being a very skimpy, very sheer looking pair of panties. If one could even call them that.  
But this was more than just a sexy photo in a lingerie magazine, this was a proclamation of war.

Before he could fully realize what he was doing, he already found himself with his phone pressed against his ear listening to it ring before a very sleepy voice came on the other end.

“Hello?”

Crap. He actually had no idea what in the hell he was planning on saying. He just called her without even thinking. 

“Oh, hey.”

“What’s wrong Shouta? You sound confused.”

“I just, um... found something of yours is all.”

“Oh? Did I leave something of mine at your apartment? If I did, could you please mail it back to me or something?”

“Well, it doesn’t actually belong to you per se.”

“Huh?”

God. Aizawa already hated everything about this conversation. He shouldn’t have even called in the first place and yet for some reason, he found himself wanting some kind of a response from her about this. Like this was somehow something that she had to explain to him.

He sighed. “I’m not going to beat around the bush. I found some of your modeling magazines.”

“O-Oh. I’m guessing the ones that aren’t very… appropriate.”

“Yeah, you could say that.”

There was a pregnant pause on the other end for a moment and Aizawa didn’t blame her if she didn’t know what to say. Honestly, what could she say? She had told him that she was a model but never specified what kind of model she was.

“Are you upset? Like, does it bother you that I’m a gravure model?”

Aizawa couldn’t help but feel his heartbreak for a moment. Her voice had sounded so little, almost fearful. She was afraid of what he might think of her and that hurt him. 

“No. Of course, it doesn’t. I was just a bit caught off guard is all, you didn’t really tell me what kind of model you were when you were here.”

“Oh, yeah. I guess not huh? I was planning on telling you eventually, I just… didn’t know how.”

“Well even if you weren’t planning on telling me right away, you shouldn’t worry about what I or anyone else thinks about it. If it makes you happy and you enjoy doing it then you should continue doing it. Not that it matters what I think, but I like your photos.”

“Really? You don’t think I look a bit…”

“A bit what?”

“Oh… nothing, nevermind. I’m just glad you’re not jealous or anything.”

“Jealous of what? It doesn’t bother me if other men enjoy your photos. After all, you’re my kitten and no amount of gross looks by random men is going to change that.”

“Shouta!”

He couldn’t help but chuckle, he was never going to get tired of making her flustered, he just wished he could be there to see it. 

“What? Are you saying you’re not my kitten?”

“I- um. I can’t answer that!”

“Aw, come on I thought you’d accepted it by now that you’re my kitty. There’s no use denying it.”

“Don’t you have a lesson plan to go make or something!? I thought you said you weren’t gonna call me until tomorrow!”

“Well, technically it already is tomorrow, at least for me it is. I think we might be a couple of minutes apart.” Aizawa said looking over at the clock which recently changed to 12:00. “As for the lesson plan, I  
already know what I’m going to do, no use in overthinking it and making last-minute changes. I’m going to just go in hard as soon as they get here.”

“Don’t you think that that’s a bit harsh? They’re just kids, Shouta surely you can at least give them time to adjust to their new setting before going all out.”

“Doing that is only going to make them think that everything is going to be easy all the time. It’ll only make them start complaining once they have to start doing actual hero related work and they’ll be pushed to their limits. It’s better to break them in as soon as they get here so that they can be rebuilt as the proper heroes they need to be if they hope to graduate.”

“Yeah, I guess you’re right. Just, please remember not to be too hard on them all the time. They’re still just kids at the end of the day and they're going through a lot with their emotions. Push them too hard and you might end up breaking them beyond repair if you’re not careful.”

“I know.” Aizawa let out a tired sigh. “I really don’t think that I’m cut out for this, dealing with teens is way harder than taking down a villain.”

Lucy giggled. “That’s a matter of opinion Shou, I’m sure there are some people who’d say the opposite.”

“Then why don’t those people sign up to be teachers instead?” 

“Don’t be so dramatic, I’m sure you’ll figure it out as you go. If you can defeat a villain you can defeat teenage angst, can’t you? My big strong man.”

Shouta just let out a hum in response, leaning his head back and running a hand over his face. It was getting late and it’d be better to get as much sleep as he could now before he was forced to wake up at five for teaching duties. He let out a yawn before resting his chin on his hand.

“You sound tired. I think you should head to bed now Shou. Wouldn’t want the kids to confuse you for a tired hobo or something.”

“Aw, and I thought you said I was beautiful.”

“You’re beautiful in an artistic kind of way. An acquired taste if you will.”

“What do either of those things have to do with anything?”

“I don’t know, you’re not the only one who needs sleep. I’m heading to bed now, we’ll talk more tomorrow.”

“Sure, but can you promise me something?”

“What?”

“That you’ll try on one of these underwear sets for me the next time I see you.”

“You can be a bit of a pervert sometimes, huh Shouta?”

“Only for you kitten, only for you.”

“How… flattering. Alright, goodnight Shouta.”

“Goodnight.”

The line went silent as he hung up the phone, setting it down on the coffee table before turning to leave to his room. He stared at his bed for a moment before turning around to grab one of the magazines from the box. Maybe he could stay up for just a bit longer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know this chapter might be shorter than what I've been posting recently but I didn't want to take another month to post one chapter but to hopefully make up for it I posted another oneshot story this time with Lucy and Aizawa. I have another idea for a oneshot LucyxAizawa fic but I don't know if I should post it by itself or create a oneshot book full of short stories featuring Lucy x several different guys that I either come up with or that readers can choose. I'd also like to give kinktober a try but I'm not really sure how that'd go for me considering how long I've been taking to post chapters. 
> 
> Let me know what you guys think of that idea or the chapter. Thank you all for reading and for the support! Comments always welcome!

**Author's Note:**

> Oh god this took a while. It looks longer in Word than it does on here and writing while figuring out html is gonna suck, but oh well. Aizawa will likely show up in the next chapter. Hopefully this isn't too hard to follow so far so let me know if there are some things I should clear up now or in the future.


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